REVEALED: University of Cambridge crowned the Complete University Guide’s best university

The University of Cambridge has come top of the class for this year’s annual Complete University Guide rankings, overtaking the University of Oxford for the first time in two years but elsewhere in the rankings less well known universities rise to the top by other measures and subjects within the Complete University Guide’s league table.  

Cambridge and Oxford have battled hard to retain their supremacy of the performance tables once more. But in this highly competitive sector challenge is never far behind with traditional incumbents facing fierce rivalry from newer institutions. 

With prospective students and their parents eager to ensure that they make the right choices about their time at university, it’s exciting to see newer universities succeeding in satisfaction and graduate outcomes.   

The universities of Aberystwyth and West London are joint second for student satisfaction while Plymouth Marjon comes in 3rd and London Metropolitan secures the 4th place spot.   

Overall, of the 25 top placing universities for student satisfaction, only one is a member of the Russell Group.  

This year has also seen some big changes in rankings too.  

The University of Portsmouth rose 22 places to rank as one of the top 50 universities in the United Kingdom, and the University of Sheffield rose an impressive 8 places to land a spot in the top 20.   

Lancaster University secures a spot in the top 10 universities this year, rising 1 place while other non-Russell Group universities are also making the grade.  The University of Bath is up 3 places  to number 5 nationally and the University of Surrey rises 5 places to a very respectable 13th, placing them among the highest scorers nationally.  

St Andrews maintained the prestige of the highest ranked university in Scotland, and Cardiff University remains top of the table in Wales. The top-scoring post-92 university is the University of the Arts while Leeds Beckett University secured the single biggest increase in placement, jumping 40 places to 66th.  

Every year the Complete University Guide releases UK university and subject league tables to support prospective students, their parents and teachers in making informed decisions about their future. Regional league tables are also on offer to help people find the right university for them in their area. 

This follows on from last month’s Student Choice Awards, from the Complete University Guide’s sister site Whatuni, which saw students vote for their favourite university across a range of categories and celebrate the work of universities up and down the country.  

Professor Amanda Chetwynd, Chair of the Complete University Guide Advisory Board, said:  

Many congratulations to the University of Cambridge for overtaking their life-long rivals, the University of Oxford, to take top position in this year’s Complete University Guide. This year’s rankings show that there truly is a university for everyone with graduate outcomes going hand-in-hand with student satisfaction across institutions of all ages and sizes. 

There has been a remarkable level of determination by all institutions to deliver student satisfaction and this is reflected in the retention of the regional crowns in all parts of the UK bar one.

Simon Emmett, Chief Executive Officer of IDP Connect, said:  

Students and their parents want certainty and clarity when selecting the institution at which they wish to study. The independence and expertise of the Completely University Guide remains a crucial part of our organisation. Everyone who uses our data to aid their decision can do so safe in the knowledge that our findings are based upon nothing more complicated than hard evidence. 

Choosing which university you will study at for three or more years is no small matter. Unlike other operators in this field we can provide students with confidence in our innovative integrity. We believe these rankings help them as they take their next steps into higher education. 

ENDS 

Notes to editors:  

• The team behind thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk has compiled university league tables for more than 25 years. Since 2007, these have been freely available online. The Guide is an autonomous division of IDP Education, global leader in education services and technology, from which, by mutual agreement, it retains its complete editorial independence.  
• thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk attracts over ten million visitors each year.  
• The main league table is based on ten measures: Entry Standards, Student Satisfaction, Research Quality, Research Intensity, Graduate Prospects – outcomes, Graduate Prospects – on track, Student-Staff Ratio, Spending on Academic Services, Spending on Student Facilities, and Continuation. It includes 130 institutions. 
• The Arts, Drama & Music League Table, published since 2016, lists 12 specialist institutions offering too small a subject range to appear in the main table. 
• The subject tables are based on six measures (Entry Standards, Student Satisfaction, Research Quality, Continuation, Graduate Prospects – outcomes and Graduate Prospects – on track) and include 151 universities, university colleges and specialist higher education institutions.  
• All university league tables on thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk can be filtered by region and mission group (Cathedrals Group, GuildHE, MillionPlus Group, Russell Group, University Alliance, as well as unaffiliated universities). Tables from the current and previous years can be downloaded. All tables can also be sorted by any of the measures that comprise them.  
• Criteria for inclusion in the main university league table or the subject tables can be seen on our website.  

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