The University of Leeds has been named as runner-up for this year's University of the Year award and has risen to 17th place in The Sunday Times and The Times Good University Guide.
Leeds also ranked in the top 100 in the most recent league table of the world’s best universities (QS World University Rankings 2014).
Sir Alan Langlands, University of Leeds’ Vice-Chancellor, said: “Being runner-up for University of the Year is a great acknowledgement of the dedication, commitment and hard work of staff and students at Leeds.
“League tables provide only a snapshot of university strengths, but these latest rankings rightly place us among the leading universities in the UK and among the most influential and respected higher education institutions in the world.”
The University has improved its scores this year in all of the league table measures. The Times and The Sunday Times assessed Leeds on the basis of its research quality, entry standards, student-staff ratios, services and facilities spend, completion rates, the proportions of Firsts and 2:1s, and graduate prospects.
Notably, there were sharp improvements in graduate prospects and higher completion rates. The Guide also acknowledges Leeds as investing heavily in facilities, including a new university library paid for in part by a £9m donation – the biggest single gift in the university’s history.
With more than 31,000 students from more than 140 different countries, the University also saw an increase in student satisfaction in this year’s National Student Survey, a success reflected in these league table results. Leeds is also the top Russell Group university in the International Student Barometer, which gathers the views of students from outside the European Union.
Sir Alan continued: “We start the new academic year with a real sense of purpose, committed to excellence in education, research and innovation. The tremendous breadth of the University is a real strength, enabling new educational and research opportunities where disciplines intersect.
“We remain one of the most popular universities for undergraduate and postgraduate students and we continue to invest in state-of-the-art facilities, in generous bursaries and scholarships, and in making sure we offer the very best student experience.”
Full details of the league tables will be available in The Sunday Times on Sunday 21 September. The newspaper content will be published over the course of a week, beginning with a 56- page supplement published in The Sunday Times. A fully searchable website with full university profiles and 66 subject tables will be published at www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/gooduniversityguide.
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