Queen’s falls a dramatic 12 places in The Good University Guide 2018

Queen's has long been dubbed a 'world-class university on our doorstep,' and this seemed to be confirmed last year when Queen's made it into the top 30 universities in the UK.

Today's findings tell a different story as The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018 ranked QUB as the 38th best uni in the UK. The Sunday Times reported that the uni also fell in the 2017 National Student Survey, dropping to equal 43rd in the UK rankings for student experience and 70th for teaching excellence.

However, Queen's reputation as a world-class research university has not been diminished with these findings, as it continues to produce research at a level equivalent to Cambridge. 95 per cent of Queen's academics were entered for the most recent Research Excellence Framework, where 77 per cent of the research was "considered world-leading or internationally excellent." Though it seems there are zero computers available in the library during deadlines, QUB is the first uni to meet the national target of providing at least one computer workstation for every five undergraduate students.

Ulster has dropped from 68 to 73 in the rankings, but managed to  narrowly beat Queen's in the NSS in terms of teaching excellence. Ulster achieved 80.5 per cent, whereas QUB was awarded 79.9 per cent. The Sunday Times reports the uni has suffered from cuts in recent years,  and  has been forced to close the modern languages department, among other courses. Ulster has said it expects to lose 1,200 places over three years to cope with the recent cuts.

However, Ulster has been named in the Times Higher Education  magazine's top 150 universities in the world that are under 50 years old.