Here are the 10 best unis in the country – according to The Guardian

In a blow to Oxbridge egos, St Andrews has been named the best uni in the country by The Guardian.

The Scottish university topped The Guardian’s annual ranking of undergraduate courses for the first time in its history.

St Andrews is now firmly a part of an exclusive top three after The Times placed it ahead of Cambridge in their own UK rankings last week.

It also topped The Times’s Good University Guide last year – the first time any university other than Oxford or Cambridge came first.

The Guardian’s University Guide ranks universities on a range of measures including student satisfaction, teaching quality and graduate prospects. You can find the full list and university ranking 2022 here.

10. Loughborough

It seems Loughborough is more than just the uni your hockey team loses against. They scrape into the top 10 for the second year in a row. The East Midlands uni enjoys high student satisfaction with 85% of students claiming they are happy with their course.

9. UCL

The London uni is stable at 9th in this year’s rankings with some satisfactory teaching. That said, like most universities in London, it lags behind on student satisfaction with only three-quarters of students saying they actually like their course.

8. Warwick

The students of Leamington Spa will be disappointed to see their beloved institution fall two places from last year. Lower entry standards have brought them down but their high levels of satisfaction among students and strong prospects for graduates keep them firmly in the top 10.

7. Bath

It’s not just poshos who enjoy this uni (though they still flock there) as Bath maintains a strong all-round performance. Graduate outcomes, high satisfaction and quality teaching all make Bath a consistent performer at the top of these rankings.

6. Durham

Durham, the long-time Oxbridge pretender with its collegiate atmosphere and fancy buildings, is down one place. Strong coursework feedback and high entry standards face off against a weak course satisfaction rating.

5. Imperial

London’s nerdiest university is even better this year, climbing two places. This is the university with the best graduate prospects with 95% of students either in top jobs or further study.

4. LSE

Despite having only marginally better student satisfaction ratings than its neighbours in London the LSE has maintained its place as the best London uni for another year.

3. Cambridge

Long in competition with its Oxbridge sister, Cambridge University is now down in third place. It may have the highest average entry score of any university in Britain but it still can’t match Oxford.

2. Oxford

Neither Oxford nor Cambridge provide student satisfaction figures (and why would they with the amount of work they make their students do) but Oxford may be a bit bitter itself after being pipped to first place this year. It has the best staff-to-student ratio though.

1. St Andrews

You cannot help but feel happy for this university. They may be far away from anyone but they are very content in their pretty corner of Scotland. So much so that their student satisfaction is by far the highest in the country. More than 9 in 10 students are happy with both their course and teaching. Congratulations St Andrews.

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Featured image credit via The Tab