Cambridge tops UK university rankings for sixth year

The Complete University Guide’s new league table shows little change from last year, as Cambridge achieves a perfect score.

The sun's not going down on Cambridge just yet.Simon Lock

by Louis Ashworth

This article is 9 years old

Monday April 25 2016, 9:40am

The University of Cambridge has for the record sixth time in a row topped the Complete University Guide’s (CUG) league table.

Cambridge edged out rivals Oxford and LSE to reprise pole position, achieving the maximum overall score of 1,000 points.

In the league table, which is compiled by an independent body, Cambridge received the highest score for entry standards, and was ranked third for graduate prospects.

It came in fourth place for research quality, with Imperial College London, LSE, and Oxford University all narrowly ahead.

Cambridge was ranked in the top 10 universities for 44 different subjects. It took the top spot for a number of subjects, including Mathematics, Anthropology, Computer Science, Economics, Medicine, Law, History, and Philosophy. It ranked within the top three on multiple subjects.

Last month, Cambridge was ranked the world's leading institution for Mathematics, History, and Archaeology, according to the latest QS World University Rankings.

The CUG rankings show a general lack of change at the top, with the six highest ranked universities – Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Imperial College London, St Andrews, and Durham – remaining unchanged from last year.

Anglia Ruskin University climbed five places to 110th place.

The annual league table ranks 127 different institutions using 10 metrics: research quality, research intensity, spending on academic services, entry standards, student-to-staff ratio, good honours degrees achieved, student satisfaction, spending on student facilities, graduate prospects, and completion.

CUG’s findings note Cambridge’s exceptionally high completion rate, with 98.6 per cent of students finishing their degrees.

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