The Guardian UK University Guide and Ranking for 2016
Guardian UK University Guide 2016
The latest Guardian University Guide tables show that Cambridge University has taken the top spot
Cambridge University tops the Guardian’s undergraduate university league table for a fifth consecutive year. Oxford and St Andrews regain second and third places respectively, while Surrey has overtaken Bath and rises two places to fourth. Warwick and Durham also performed well, moving up into sixth and seventh place.
Exeter has entered the top 10, rising three places from 12th to ninth, and Coventry has rocketed up 12 places from last year to move into 15th.
It has not been a great year for institutions based in London. The London School of Economics has been knocked out of the top 10, falling six places to 13th. Imperial College and University College London also drop down a few spots.
The tables were compiled by the independent consultancy firm Intelligent Metrix. They are based on information collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the National Student Survey, published by Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce). The Guardian University Guide 2016 is a ranking at undergraduate level only.
The Guardian undergraduate university guide can be explored below alongside information such as spend per student, student-to-staff ratio and institutions’ value-added score.
Methodology for the Guardian UK University Guide 2016
The tables are based on data for full-time undergraduates at UK universities.
The methodology focuses on subject-level league tables, ranking institutions that provide each subject. We ask each institution which of their students should be counted in which subject so that they will only be compared to students taking similar subjects at other universities.
Eight statistical measures are employed to approximate a university’s performance in teaching each subject. Measures relate to both input, eg expenditure by the university on its students, and output, eg a graduate’s probability of finding a graduate-level job. The measures are knitted together to get a Guardian score, against which institutions are ranked.
For those prospective undergraduates who do not know which subject they wish to study, but who still want to know where institutions rank in relation to one another, the Guardian scores have been averaged for each institution across all subjects to generate an institution-level table.
Guardian UK University Ranking 2016
| Rank 2016 | Rank 2015 | Institution | Guardian score/100 | Satisfied with course | Satisfied with teaching | Satisfied with feedback | Student to staff ratio | Spend per student/10 | Average entry tariff | Value added score/10 | Career after 6 months | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (1) | Cambridge | 100 | 90.6 | 92.4 | 72.7 | 11.3 | 9.9 | 602.0 | 5.5 | 89.3 | |
| 2 | (2) | Oxford | 97.5 | 92.0 | 93.3 | 70.8 | 10.6 | 10 | 572.6 | 6.7 | 82.8 | |
| 3 | (3) | St Andrews | 91.8 | 92.2 | 92.3 | 74.6 | 11.4 | 7.9 | 517.3 | 6.9 | 78.5 | |
| 4 | (6) | Surrey | 87.7 | 90.4 | 90.5 | 76.7 | 14.0 | 7.2 | 424.1 | 6.2 | 82.1 | |
| 5 | (4) | Bath | 85.9 | 93.2 | 91.4 | 74.9 | 16.7 | 6.0 | 478.8 | 6.9 | 85.0 | |
| 6 | (8) | Durham | 84.6 | 90.5 | 90.2 | 73.2 | 14.9 | 5.8 | 524.4 | 6.7 | 79.7 | |
| 6 | (9) | Warwick | 84.6 | 89.2 | 89.2 | 71.7 | 12.6 | 8.5 | 482.2 | 5.9 | 78.3 | |
| 8 | (5) | Imperial College | 84.3 | 87.2 | 88.4 | 66.9 | 11.3 | 7.8 | 568.3 | 5.7 | 89.9 | |
| 9 | (12) | Exeter | 83.8 | 91.5 | 90.7 | 76.7 | 15.7 | 6.7 | 463.3 | 6.6 | 80.2 | |
| 10 | (10) | Lancaster | 82.1 | 89.0 | 88.3 | 71.8 | 13.8 | 8.1 | 435.7 | 5.1 | 78.7 | |
| 11 | (15) | Loughborough | 81.2 | 89.2 | 88.1 | 75.6 | 15.0 | 6.1 | 397.3 | 6.3 | 80.0 | |
| 12 | (11) | UCL | 81 | 85.8 | 86.2 | 61.8 | 10.3 | 8.7 | 502.1 | 6.6 | 80.9 | |
| 13 | (7) | London School of Economics | 80.5 | 82.9 | 82.7 | 66.1 | 11.4 | 7.6 | 532.7 | 4.5 | 82.2 | |
| 14 | (19) | Southampton | 76.2 | 86.6 | 87.6 | 67.9 | 12.0 | 6.9 | 410.9 | 6.5 | 77.8 | |
| 15 | (27) | Coventry | 75.7 | 91.1 | 92.7 | 81.4 | 14.7 | 4.4 | 309.8 | 6.7 | 71.7 | |
| 16 | (20) | Kent | 75.5 | 90.7 | 88.7 | 72.6 | 13.0 | 4.9 | 362.8 | 6.5 | 75.6 | |
| 17 | (17) | Birmingham | 75.1 | 89.6 | 90.1 | 69.6 | 15.5 | 7.4 | 426.4 | 6.4 | 84.4 | |
| 18 | (13) | Heriot-Watt | 74.8 | 87.1 | 86.3 | 74.2 | 16.9 | 7.8 | 413.4 | 6.1 | 72.7 | |
| 19 | (43) | Sussex | 74.5 | 85.4 | 87.5 | 67.5 | 15.6 | 7.8 | 386.1 | 5.3 | 77.9 | |
| 20 | (18) | Edinburgh | 74.2 | 82.2 | 85.0 | 55.4 | 12.2 | 9.1 | 484.1 | 6.1 | 78.2 | |
| 20 | (14) | UEA | 74.2 | 92.4 | 91.5 | 71.6 | 13.7 | 4.3 | 407.6 | 6.8 | 71.0 | |
| 22 | (16) | York | 73.4 | 85.9 | 88.8 | 68.0 | 14.8 | 7.0 | 437.3 | 5.0 | 74.7 | |
| 23 | (28) | Leeds | 73.1 | 88.4 | 89.8 | 71.1 | 13.7 | 6.3 | 431.3 | 6.3 | 74.9 | |
| 24 | (25) | Glasgow | 72.6 | 90.7 | 91.0 | 66.6 | 14.8 | 6.4 | 470.4 | 4.6 | 79.8 | |
| 25 | (30) | Reading | 72 | 89.0 | 88.5 | 69.9 | 14.2 | 7.0 | 373.0 | 5.5 | 72.5 | |
| 26 | (24) | SOAS | 71.4 | 87.5 | 89.4 | 65.9 | 10.9 | 6.5 | 406.5 | 6.7 | 62.2 | |
| 27 | (26) | Cardiff | 71.2 | 88.6 | 88.4 | 69.3 | 14.3 | 7.2 | 426.5 | 5.3 | 80.1 | |
| 28 | (22) | Nottingham | 71.1 | 87.9 | 88.1 | 67.6 | 14.0 | 6.8 | 427.7 | 5.6 | 79.0 | |
| 29 | (33) | Manchester | 70.8 | 84.7 | 86.0 | 67.7 | 13.2 | 7.9 | 435.1 | 5.0 | 75.6 | |
| 29 | (28) | Newcastle | 70.8 | 90.7 | 89.8 | 71.6 | 15.6 | 6.1 | 424.3 | 5.7 | 79.4 | |
| 31 | (53) | Falmouth | 70.4 | 81.4 | 84.4 | 74.5 | 21.5 | 6.1 | 309.5 | 6.5 | 72.4 | |
| 32 | (21) | Leicester | 70.2 | 88.8 | 87.7 | 68.6 | 12.2 | 7.5 | 386.0 | 5.3 | 74.0 | |
| 33 | (38) | Strathclyde | 70.1 | 89.3 | 89.2 | 65.7 | 19.3 | 6.5 | 476.4 | 5.4 | 77.5 | |
| 33 | (22) | Aston | 70.1 | 88.5 | 86.4 | 73.2 | 16.0 | 6.8 | 368.8 | 5.6 | 76.3 | |
| 35 | (34) | Bristol | 69.7 | 84.1 | 88.9 | 64.5 | 13.8 | 5.3 | 486.5 | 6.4 | 80.3 | |
| 36 | (40) | King’s College London | 67.7 | 82.9 | 87.4 | 62.3 | 11.3 | 6.5 | 455.3 | 6.0 | 79.4 | |
| 37 | (35) | City | 67.5 | 83.1 | 84.3 | 68.9 | 16.2 | 7.5 | 379.0 | 6.0 | 74.4 | |
| 38 | (47) | Dundee | 67.4 | 90.9 | 91.9 | 71.1 | 13.9 | 5.9 | 409.5 | 5.6 | 71.2 | |
| 38 | (32) | Queen Mary | 67.4 | 85.8 | 85.7 | 67.7 | 12.2 | 7.3 | 410.6 | 5.1 | 70.1 | |
| 40 | (36) | Royal Holloway | 67.3 | 88.0 | 88.9 | 71.0 | 15.3 | 5.1 | 398.1 | 4.9 | 62.2 | |
| 41 | (41) | Aberdeen | 66.8 | 86.4 | 86.4 | 64.8 | 13.4 | 5.4 | 446.4 | 6.0 | 75.0 | |
| 42 | (41) | Keele | 66.4 | 93.0 | 91.1 | 76.1 | 13.9 | 3.8 | 357.8 | 4.8 | 73.1 | |
| 42 | (37) | Sheffield | 66.4 | 88.7 | 88.7 | 67.9 | 15.0 | 5.5 | 428.6 | 5.7 | 77.1 | |
| 44 | (31) | University of the Arts London | 65 | 70.7 | 79.4 | 70.3 | 15.1 | 9.8 | 321.1 | 5.5 | 55.0 | |
| 45 | (46) | Queen’s, Belfast | 64.7 | 87.3 | 88.5 | 71.2 | 15.1 | 4.6 | 383.5 | 6.1 | 75.4 | |
| 46 | (51) | Robert Gordon | 64.4 | 86.8 | 85.2 | 69.5 | 19.6 | 3.8 | 384.6 | 5.1 | 81.1 | |
| 47 | (54) | Essex | 64.2 | 89.4 | 88.1 | 75.3 | 15.1 | 3.6 | 312.8 | 5.1 | 67.0 | |
| 48 | (39) | Oxford Brookes | 64.1 | 88.1 | 88.4 | 75.0 | 17.7 | 3.7 | 348.2 | 6.3 | 68.1 | |
| 49 | (55) | Portsmouth | 63.8 | 88.7 | 87.6 | 73.0 | 16.7 | 5.2 | 309.4 | 6.8 | 66.3 | |
| 50 | (48) | Goldsmiths | 63.7 | 86.4 | 89.2 | 67.8 | 14.8 | 3.9 | 359.9 | 6.8 | 54.2 | |
| 51 | (57) | Nottingham Trent | 61.9 | 86.9 | 86.1 | 76.4 | 17.2 | 4.6 | 309.5 | 5.4 | 64.2 | |
| 52 | (57) | Swansea | 61.7 | 88.4 | 86.4 | 71.5 | 15.3 | 4.8 | 326.2 | 5.7 | 79.2 | |
| 53 | (52) | Brunel | 61.6 | 89.8 | 85.8 | 75.0 | 16.7 | 5.5 | 351.6 | 4.6 | 60.2 | |
| 54 | (75) | Hull | 61.3 | 89.7 | 89.6 | 72.4 | 17.4 | 4.5 | 332.2 | 5.9 | 63.9 | |
| 54 | (65) | Lincoln | 61.3 | 86.2 | 88.2 | 72.6 | 18.0 | 4.3 | 334.8 | 4.4 | 67.5 | |
| 54 | (74) | Gloucestershire | 61.3 | 85.4 | 86.1 | 72.4 | 19.9 | 5.2 | 316.5 | 7.7 | 58.1 | |
| 57 | (82) | Bangor | 61 | 90.1 | 88.5 | 76.0 | 16.5 | 4.8 | 320.4 | 4.3 | 67.6 | |
| 58 | (80) | Liverpool John Moores | 60.3 | 84.2 | 84.5 | 74.5 | 18.5 | 3.8 | 344.3 | 7.4 | 61.8 | |
| 59 | (45) | Liverpool | 60.2 | 85.1 | 84.9 | 68.0 | 11.9 | 6.8 | 403.8 | 5.8 | 73.8 | |
| 59 | (56) | Huddersfield | 60.2 | 85.1 | 86.1 | 76.3 | 18.1 | 4.1 | 332.7 | 5.2 | 69.6 | |
| 61 | (69) | Bath Spa | 60 | 88.7 | 89.9 | 78.0 | 19.0 | 5.1 | 317.5 | 5.7 | 56.8 | |
| 61 | (44) | Northampton | 60 | 89.8 | 89.5 | 78.4 | 20.3 | 5.0 | 283.1 | 6.6 | 60.2 | |
| 63 | (71) | Bournemouth | 59.7 | 80.5 | 82.4 | 64.3 | 18.0 | 5.9 | 328.8 | 7.0 | 63.7 | |
| 64 | (78) | Edinburgh Napier | 59.3 | 85.0 | 86.0 | 71.8 | 20.4 | 3.8 | 347.6 | 7.5 | 61.3 | |
| 65 | (63) | Stirling | 59.2 | 87.7 | 87.6 | 68.8 | 15.0 | 4.1 | 375.6 | 4.0 | 70.2 | |
| 65 | (85) | De Montfort | 59.2 | 86.7 | 85.5 | 73.8 | 18.7 | 3.9 | 307.2 | 6.3 | 69.7 | |
| 67 | (62) | Brighton | 59 | 82.1 | 85.0 | 69.4 | 17.3 | 4.1 | 321.7 | 5.9 | 64.8 | |
| 68 | (60) | Northumbria | 58.9 | 84.4 | 84.4 | 70.4 | 18.0 | 3.7 | 363.0 | 6.2 | 62.3 | |
| 69 | (75) | Edge Hill | 58.6 | 85.5 | 88.2 | 76.5 | 15.7 | 4.2 | 319.3 | 4.7 | 58.5 | |
| 69 | (61) | Chester | 58.6 | 88.9 | 89.3 | 77.9 | 16.5 | 4.9 | 299.4 | 4.0 | 66.8 | |
| 71 | (80) | Chichester | 58.4 | 89.7 | 90.6 | 72.6 | 17.5 | 3.2 | 310.1 | 5.8 | 60.5 | |
| 72 | (83) | Bradford | 58.3 | 81.9 | 80.9 | 66.8 | 17.9 | 5.0 | 313.8 | 7.0 | 71.9 | |
| 73 | (50) | Derby | 58.1 | 85.8 | 87.3 | 75.1 | 15.4 | 5.3 | 290.0 | 4.6 | 54.8 | |
| 74 | (73) | Sheffield Hallam | 57.9 | 84.6 | 85.7 | 71.6 | 17.4 | 5.1 | 319.1 | 6.6 | 58.6 | |
| 75 | (59) | Winchester | 57.6 | 89.1 | 88.9 | 73.2 | 16.9 | 2.9 | 307.6 | 6.8 | 52.4 | |
| 76 | (69) | Queen Margaret | 57.5 | 86.5 | 87.2 | 68.1 | 19.1 | 2.7 | 341.1 | 6.8 | 63.7 | |
| 77 | (71) | Manchester Met | 57.3 | 83.3 | 83.7 | 72.3 | 17.8 | 3.3 | 346.9 | 5.6 | 60.7 | |
| 78 | (100) | Roehampton | 57.2 | 85.6 | 87.5 | 74.2 | 16.8 | 6.0 | 285.9 | 4.8 | 57.4 | |
| 79 | (66) | Hertfordshire | 56.9 | 83.5 | 84.0 | 65.7 | 17.8 | 4.7 | 318.5 | 6.2 | 68.4 | |
| 79 | (49) | UWE Bristol | 56.9 | 83.9 | 85.3 | 66.3 | 19.7 | 3.4 | 324.3 | 6.7 | 68.6 | |
| 81 | (86) | Middlesex | 56.5 | 84.9 | 83.8 | 74.8 | 18.6 | 7.1 | 269.9 | 5.6 | 56.9 | |
| 82 | (93) | Ulster | 56.4 | 87.4 | 85.9 | 73.5 | 16.6 | 3.8 | 306.2 | 5.9 | 58.7 | |
| 83 | (90) | Staffordshire | 56 | 84.6 | 86.8 | 72.9 | 17.0 | 6.2 | 274.1 | 4.9 | 55.7 | |
| 84 | (111) | Leeds Trinity | 55.9 | 86.2 | 88.0 | 79.2 | 21.7 | 3 | 283.7 | 5.5 | 65.7 | |
| 85 | (67) | Central Lancashire | 55.6 | 84.2 | 84.6 | 74.9 | 17.3 | 5.8 | 315.5 | 4.6 | 59.9 | |
| 86 | (88) | Birmingham City | 54.6 | 83.7 | 85.7 | 74.0 | 20.4 | 4.7 | 299.6 | 6.2 | 63.2 | |
| 87 | (68) | Plymouth | 53.3 | 85.9 | 87.4 | 72.2 | 17.7 | 5.3 | 312.1 | 6.0 | 58.1 | |
| 88 | (105) | Anglia Ruskin | 52.9 | 85.0 | 88.7 | 75.3 | 19.0 | 7.7 | 253.7 | 4.4 | 58.1 | |
| 89 | (91) | Glasgow Caledonian | 52.4 | 83.4 | 83.1 | 65.8 | 21.2 | 4.0 | 372.1 | 5.3 | 67.1 | |
| 90 | (94) | Salford | 51.9 | 78.6 | 81.8 | 70.9 | 17.0 | 4.5 | 334.3 | 4.8 | 56.7 | |
| 91 | (84) | Teesside | 51.6 | 83.7 | 85.0 | 74.6 | 17.7 | 5.5 | 305.5 | 4.1 | 58.0 | |
| 92 | (87) | Greenwich | 51.2 | 85.0 | 84.6 | 72.8 | 19.6 | 3.6 | 314.4 | 6.2 | 49.2 | |
| 93 | (101) | Abertay Dundee | 51 | 84.6 | 85.0 | 64.7 | 21.4 | 2.6 | 337.9 | 7.5 | 61.7 | |
| 94 | (97) | West London | 50.6 | 81.6 | 82.6 | 71.9 | 17.3 | 5.4 | 258.5 | 4.7 | 67.7 | |
| 95 | (98) | Cardiff Met | 50.4 | 86.5 | 85.7 | 75.8 | 19.0 | 3.8 | 317.1 | 4.7 | 58.8 | |
| 96 | (104) | Cumbria | 49.2 | 86.8 | 88.2 | 78.5 | 22.3 | 2.9 | 298.8 | 5.8 | 62.5 | |
| 97 | (98) | Kingston | 49.1 | 78.5 | 80.8 | 67.2 | 19.4 | 4.6 | 299.5 | 5.0 | 54.3 | |
| 98 | (115) | Bedfordshire | 49 | 84.4 | 85.0 | 75.2 | 18.3 | 5.4 | 229.2 | 4.9 | 59.5 | |
| 99 | (78) | University Campus Suffolk | 48.8 | 82.3 | 84.2 | 73.5 | 18.3 | – | 334.6 | 2.4 | 56.2 | |
| 100 | (96) | St Mary’s, Twickenham | 48.6 | 87.0 | 89.6 | 72.9 | 20.6 | 3.1 | 288.9 | 3.9 | 63.0 | |
| 101 | (95) | Westminster | 48.4 | 81.2 | 79.3 | 65.6 | 19.9 | 4.1 | 311.2 | 6.8 | 50.2 | |
| 101 | (92) | Canterbury Christ Church | 48.4 | 85.7 | 87.1 | 72.3 | 18.4 | 3.0 | 279.5 | 5.3 | 59.7 | |
| 103 | (64) | Glyndwr | 47.8 | 77.8 | 80.6 | 74.6 | 23.3 | 3.3 | 261.2 | 4.9 | 64.9 | |
| 104 | (na) | Liverpool Hope | 47.7 | 81.4 | 85.7 | 77.3 | 19.4 | 2.9 | 304.1 | 3.2 | 53.4 | |
| 105 | (113) | Bolton | 47 | 78.7 | 82.1 | 73.1 | 17.9 | 4.4 | 286.9 | 3.4 | 57.8 | |
| 106 | (109) | East London | 46.5 | 81.9 | 84.3 | 73.0 | 23.6 | 6.7 | 280.3 | 5.1 | 50.6 | |
| 107 | (89) | York St John | 46.2 | 83.4 | 85.4 | 68.5 | 20.6 | 3.8 | 291.6 | 4.6 | 64.7 | |
| 108 | (103) | Worcester | 45.5 | 82.6 | 85.0 | 69.1 | 19.1 | 2.0 | 301.4 | 5.4 | 61.1 | |
| 109 | (77) | Sunderland | 44.8 | 83.2 | 85.1 | 72.9 | 19.7 | 6.5 | 294.3 | 4.4 | 51.3 | |
| 110 | (106) | Aberystwyth | 44.2 | 82.4 | 85.8 | 65.3 | 17.9 | 4.4 | 312.3 | 3.9 | 53.3 | |
| 111 | (112) | London South Bank | 43.3 | 79.3 | 82.1 | 67.5 | 17.2 | 4.2 | 247.6 | 4.8 | 49.1 | |
| 112 | (na) | Newman | 42.9 | 88.2 | 89.0 | 75.3 | 18.9 | 3.8 | 294.6 | 3.0 | 57.9 | |
| 113 | (102) | South Wales | 42.7 | 79.6 | 81.8 | 69.0 | 20.5 | 3.5 | 320.2 | 4.6 | 54.8 | |
| 114 | (107) | Southampton Solent | 42.6 | 79.7 | 80.6 | 69.1 | 18.3 | 3.7 | 276.2 | 3.8 | 50.8 | |
| 115 | (110) | West of Scotland | 42.4 | 84.0 | 83.1 | 65.9 | 21.1 | 3.7 | 305.0 | 5.9 | 58.4 | |
| 116 | (108) | Leeds Beckett | 40.4 | 81.2 | 82.2 | 68.0 | 20.9 | 3.3 | 287.7 | 4.5 | 54.8 | |
| 117 | (na) | Trinity Saint David | 36.3 | 79.9 | 84.4 | 72.4 | 22.4 | 4.2 | 265.6 | 2.7 | 50.7 | |
| 118 | (116) | London Met | 32.3 | 75.9 | 77.6 | 65.5 | 19.6 | 2.8 | 238.4 | 4.2 | 47.1 | |
| 119 | (114) | Bucks New University | 31.3 | 75.0 | 79.3 | 67.9 | 21.8 | 2.5 | 257.9 | 4.1 | 53.5 |
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Fascinating data and provides further evidence that excellent universities do exist outside the Russell Group. Big is not always best! Government ministers should take note and stop favouring one mission group over another for ideological reasons.