Oxford On the ‘Top’ again.

Oxford University remains at top of league table for sixth year running. 

The university league tables provide information for more than 600,000 applicants who face tough competition for places

With Cambridge coming second, Warwick comes third and St Andrews fourth – the pair have switched positions from last year. University College London, Lancaster, Imperial College, London School of Economics, Loughborough and York are in the top 10. London Metropolitan has come last.

The tables rank universities according to the following measures: how satisfied their final-year students are; how much they spend per student; the student/staff ratio; the career prospects of their graduates; a value-added score and what grades pupils have to achieve to stand a chance of being offered a place.

The tables provide vital information for the more than 600,000 university applicants who this year face the toughest ever competition for places.

Britain's oldest universities still dominate the high rankings.

Every year, final-year students score their universities according to how satisfied they have been with their courses, as part of the National Student Survey. The tables, compiled by independent consultancy firm Intelligent Metrix, heavily weight the results of this survey when compiling the rankings. Other league tables concentrate on research ratings.

The tables reveal that Kingston has fallen the highest number of places from last year – from 73rd to 98th, but Huddersfield is the biggest climber, having risen from 96th last year to 54th this year. Hertfordshire has also shot up, from 97th place to 60th.

Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group of large, research-intensive universities, said maintaining high rankings would be "challenging" because universities face "growing cost pressures and fierce competition from better resourced institutions in other countries". She said:

Aaron Porter, president-elect of the National Union of Students, said universities should be more open and accountable about where their funding is coming from and how it is used. He said: "Students have a right to expect a higher quality of education and improvements to their experience. They should also increasingly demonstrate to prospective students what they can expect from their experience and

Oxford tops the Guardians University League Table

The UK's three oldest universities claim the top three positions in the Guardian university league table today, with  Oxford and Cambridge universities achieving the topmost positions. A key ingredient in their success was the very high satisfaction ratings from their students.

 All the institutions in the top 20 are strong in research - as we can see from the , where readers can compare research and teaching ratings for each subject - but that is not why they are top of the table. We judge them purely on their teaching. They would argue that their teaching is enriched by their research.

Two Scottish universities, Heriot-Watt and Robert Gordon, have jumped tremendously  up by  the ratings to 22 and 36 respectively, while as far south of the border as you get, Bournemouth is the new  favourite university at 32 (37 last year). In Wales, the revival of Lampeter on the eve of its merger with Trinity University College Carmarthen is notable.

Among the specialist institutions that are often overlooked in some tables, the music conservatoires once again dominate this league.

Courtesy Guardian.co.uk