University of St Andrews fourth best in UK

The University of St Andrews is named among the UK’s top five universities and has achieved its highest ever ranking in the Times Good University Guide 2010.

The new national league table published today (Wednesday 3 June 2009) ranks St Andrews as the leading university in Scotland and 4th in the UK. It is the highest finish ever attained by a Scottish university in the Times table.

Oxford tops The Times Good University Guide league table for the eighth consecutive year and is followed by Cambridge, Imperial College, St Andrews and University College London.

Universities were rated on student satisfaction, quality of research, staff-student ratio, completion rates and spend per student on services and facilities.

The guide also looked at entry standards, the percentage of students gaining good honours and graduate prospects.

St Andrews ranks amongst the top in the UK for student satisfaction, research quality in Scotland, completion rates and good honours results for students.

The Times table follows the recent publication of The Guardian University Guide in which St Andrews was ranked 3rd.

Principal and Vice-Chancellor Dr Louise Richardson said, “I believe this is the highest ranking yet achieved by St Andrews in the Times Guide and the highest ever by a Scottish university. It follows the recent publication of the Guardian University Guide 2009 which placed us 3rd, behind Oxbridge.

“We should always treat league tables with some healthy scepticism, but our placement in both guides must reflect this university’s commitment to excellence in teaching and research and serve as a signal of our ambition to be the best.”

Individual subjects at St Andrews performed particularly well in the rankings with all 21 subjects placed in the top ten in the UK and 16 judged to be top in Scotland.

International relations is placed 2nd in the UK behind Oxford; Chemistry, Classics, French, Geology and German are all in 3rd place; Philosophy and Mathematics are listed at 4th, while Geography and Theology both appear in 5th place.

A full version of the guide is published today at www.timesonline.co.uk/gug

ENDS

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews
Contact Fiona Armstrong, Press Officer on 01334 462530 / 467227, Mobile: 07730 415 015 or Email: [email protected]
Ref:  Times Good University Guide 03/06/09
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