The Sunday Times' University Guide 2013

1 October 2012

The Sunday Times’ Good University Guide 2013 was released yesterday, which not only offers our future graduates with some insight into the overwhelming world of universities before they begin applying, but also strikes up a pang of competition among those who have already graduated.

We are proud to have four British universities ranked in the top six in the world, with Cambridge being rated second after Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then University College London, Oxford University and Imperial College London not far behind.

The top six universities in the world (according to QS World University Rankings 2012):

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology  

2. University of Cambridge

3. Harvard University  

4. University College London  

5. Oxford University   

 6. Imperial College London

However, The Sunday Times University Guide has ranked the top ten universities in the UK are as follows, with UCL nowhere to be seen:

1. University of Cambridge

2. University of Oxford

3. University of Bath

4. Durham University

5. University of St. Andrews

6. London School of Economics (LSE)

7. University of Exeter

8. Imperial College London

9. Heriot-Watt University

10. University of Warwick

But it was the University of Exeter whom the Sunday Times has labelled as ‘University of the Year’, as a result of putting their students’ views on teaching first. More congratulations are in order to the London School of Economics, which was rated as the best university in London, while Cardiff was awarded the top university in Wales, and St. Andrews in Scotland.

Top 5 London universities (UK ranking in brackets)

1. LSE (6)

2. Imperial (8)

3. UCL (=13)

4. KCL (=30)

5. Royal Holloway (33)

Top 5 universities in Wales (UK ranking in brackets):

1. Cardiff (19)

2. Swansea (45)

3. Aberystwyth (62)

4. Bangor (74)

5. Glamorgan (92)

Top 5 universities in Scotland (UK ranking in brackets):

1. St. Andrews (5)

2. Heriot-Watt (9)

3. Glasgow (19)

4. Strathclyde (24)

5. Dundee (30)

The Sunday Times has also revealed that the Russell Group, comprised of 24 of the leading British universities have advised that students applying for university may want to stick to ‘traditional’ subjects, as admissions tutors favour those with academic subjects under their belt. The most ‘facilitating subjects’ are considered to be: