Coventry University has nudged past many of its Russell Group peers to reach the highest position ever achieved by a former polytechnic in the Guardian league table of universities.

Coventry reached number 15 in the table, higher than many of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, including Birmingham, Edinburgh, York, Leeds, Glasgow, Cardiff, Nottingham and Newcastle.

There was little change at the top of the table: Cambridge held on to its place at number one for a fifth year running, while Oxford and St Andrews remained in second and third place respectively.

The only university to fall out of the top 10 was the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), which made room for the University of Exeter. LSE fell to 13th place after being in the top three just two years ago, dragged down by a falling student satisfaction score. It wasn’t the only elite London institution to lose ground - University College London (UCL) and Imperial also slipped slightly down the table.



The Guardian’s league tables rank universities according to: spending per student; the student/staff ratio; graduate career prospects; what grades applicants need to get a place; a value-added score that compares students’ entry qualifications with their final degree results; and how satisfied final-year students are with their courses, based on results from the annual National Student Survey (NSS).

It was positive ratings from finalists that helped to drive Coventry University’s rise up the rankings, according to the compiler of the tables Matt Hiely-Rayner: “It is particularly in the questions that relate to assessment and feedback that Coventry does well. This is interesting because it is the only area of the student survey where finalists often show dissatisfaction.”

The university also has impressive student-staff ratios, he adds. “Few institutions outside the Russell Group manage such a low number of students per member of academic staff – and some Russell Group members don’t either.”

Vice-chancellor of Coventry University, John Latham: ‘We’re bringing in new forms of pedagogy and listening to students.’ Photograph: Coventry University

John Latham, vice-chancellor of Coventry University, says the university’s success is down to its focus on students’ needs. “We’re a modern university, but not just in the sense that we haven’t been around for as long - we’re very modern in our approach. We’re challenging the system. We’re bringing in new forms of pedagogy and listening to students.”

The university has three objectives: “teaching students well, making sure that students are listened to, and making sure they get good jobs at the end of their course,” says Ian Dunn, deputy vice-chancellor for student experience at Coventry.

Other institutions that performed well in the table include the universities of Surrey, Sussex and Falmouth.

Sussex, which had fallen to the nether regions of the top 50 in previous years, has now climbed to 19th position. Michael Farthing, vice-chancellor of Sussex University, says the university’s recovery is down to its increased efforts to boost the employability of its graduates.



“We’ve been much more proactive in helping students get jobs,” says Farthing. “More students are getting the opportunity to do placements as part of their studies, more students are doing study abroad, and we’re supporting students much more in terms of their language development.”

Surrey University, the only institution to enter the top five this year, also puts its success partly down to its employment figures. Michael Kearney, acting vice-chancellor at the university, says 97% of graduates find work six months after graduating. “We have a dedicated team working closely with the students and employers and we have excellent relationships with industry,” he says.

Leicester and Aston University fared less well in this year’s rankings: both slumped from the fringes of the top 20 to positions outside the top 30. At Leicester, student satisfaction deteriorated, while at Aston value-added scores worsened, particularly in the area of English and creative writing.

The subject tables: star performers



Across the Guardian’s subject tables, stand-out performers include Falmouth University, which has climbed the rankings for business, management and marketing. The university, boosted by happy finalists, has moved to 15th in the table from 112th last year.



Cardiff University leapt to the top of the dentistry rankings, having been 11th place last summer. Meanwhile, Southampton has risen to the top of the media and film studies table, after more students said that they were happy with the assessment and feedback they received during their course.

The increase in tuition fees and new funding rules allowing universities to expand their intakes mean that league table scores are increasingly important to universities, according to Nick Hillman, director of the higher education policy institute (Hepi). “Neither the employability nor NSS [student satisfaction] data sets are perfect - no data is - but universities do care a lot, and more so.

“Because England has decided to fund universities through individual student loans, it’s inevitable that the demand for more information is going to increase.”