Forget the Election – it’s the all new 2018 Guardian ranking

It’s as exciting as it gets with Cambridge at the top once more.

Top 20 of the full list which can be found here is as follows (last year’s position in brackets):

Obviously, the new Teaching Excellence Framework will have a profound impact on this in future. Or perhaps not. Cambridge will in all likelihood be right up there again.

The commentary on the table covers the big movers:

There’s little change among the top 10 universities: Durham University, which ranked sixth last year, is in fourth place, while Bath University has climbed from 10th to fifth position. Imperial College London, Loughborough, Warwick, Lancaster, Surrey and UCL make up the rest of the top 10. Coventry remains the highest-ranked former polytechnic in the guide, moving up from 15th to 12th place.

Elsewhere in the table, some universities have risen rapidly up the rankings. Among them is Liverpool Hope (56), which – despite gaining university status only 15 years ago – has overtaken its Russell Group neighbour, the University of Liverpool (67). The University of Liverpool has also fallen behind Edge Hill University (56), which is based nearby is Ormskirk.

The University of West London is another institution making a quick ascent up the table, rising to 58th place from 96th last year.

Universities in the research-intensive Russell Group have taken 12 of the top 20 places in the table, though three members – Cardiff (42), Queen Mary (44) and Liverpool (67) – are outside the top 40. The University of Liverpool’s position slipped to 67 from 59 last year due largely to a fall in graduate employment prospects.

In terms of the methodology:

The Guardian league tables focus on the quality of teaching, student satisfaction and employability, issues that are vital to young people choosing where to study.

The guide, which is produced by the independent company Intelligent Metrix, ranks 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).

Cambridge top and big moves for Coventry, Liverpool Hope and West London.

It couldn’t really be more exciting.