Leicester falls six places, but we’re still in the top 20

University of Leicester has seen its ranking fall by 6 places but has managed to remain in The Sunday Times’ university league table top 20.

Leicester was ranked as 20th out of 123 universities in the UK, after it dropped 8 places to 21, in another influential university ranking by The Guardian.

Leicester University remains in the top 20 UK universities

Despite this, it still beat the likes of Nottingham, Reading and Manchester in both rankings.

Leicester performed well in several areas, with 83.2 per cent student satisfaction and a 93.1 per cent course completion rate.

It also sat comfortably within the top 20 universities when it came to degree classifications, with 79 per cent of its students graduating with a first or 2:1.

Second year archaeology student Charlotte Bishop is one of many who aren’t concerned by the slightly lower ranking for Leicester.

She said: “I didn’t come to Leicester based on any rankings. I came because of its location and the lecturers seemed more enthusiastic about their course than anywhere else I looked at.”

Leicester University is ranked 36th out of 123 for graduate prospects

But, having tumbled down the world rankings to 202, down by 41 places from last year, Leicester’s publicity and accolades, most recently its discovery of Richard III and award-winning students union, seems to be waning.

But, Leicester put forward so many more academics than its peers in the large-scale Research Assessment Exercise of 2008 that it depressed it’s research scores by the Sunday Times, but greatly boosted its research funding, so the numbers put forward by the league table shouldn’t be taken as gospel.

Vice-Chancellor Bob Burgess is retiring next year but was still “delighted” with Leicester’s ranking

The vice-chancellor, Professor Sir Bob Burgess, was pleased regardless and said, “i’m delighted that Leicester is one of only two East Midlands universities in the UK top 2- and is ranked in the top 10 for investment in student services and facilities”.

The university is only part way through an extensive £1 billion development plan that so far has brought in the £32 million David Wilson Library in 2008, and a further £16 million on the award-winning Percy Gee Student’s Union.

Leicester is the only university to have a union with an O2 academy on campus, attracting the likes of Bastille and Kasabian as well as hosting two successful student nights a week.

The £32 million library is always well used

This supports many students view that Leicester balances studying and socialising well, including 2nd year Grace Chew.

She said: “I really wanted to come to Leicester after hearing the ‘student life’ talk on an open day”.

The history undergraduate added: “I come from Birmingham which is a big city so it’s nice to be somewhere that’s a bit smaller but still has lots of shops, people, opportunities and a good nightlife.”

Last year, the University of Leicester was shortlisted for the coveted ‘University Of The Year’ award from the Times Higher Education Awards.

It is the current holder of what Vice-Chancellor Burgess described as, “the highest honour available in the UK university system,” the Queens Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.

Leicester has a student population of 12% in term-time, attracting students from all over the world

University of Leicester did manage to make it onto the Times Higher Education Awards shortlist again this year, having been nominated for the category of ‘Outstanding Support For Students’. The winners are to be announced on the 21st November.

3rd year Historian, Grace Wood, summed up the general feeling of Leicester Uni to the Tab and said, “When picking, you know that Leicester’s a great uni academically but you also know you’re going to have a lot more fun than at the unis higher in this years rankings. Leicester provides the whole uni package.”