20.05.10. The Complete University Guide: New institutions challenge the old guard's dominance

The position of "old" universities established before 1992 is continuing to be threatened by younger upstarts in the table compiled by The Complete University Guide in association with The Independent. Although Oxford remains at the top of the university pecking order for the third year running, with Cambridge and Imperial College London again in second and third place respectively, there has been movement in the middle ranks. Lancaster, for example, has risen from 12th to eighth place in the 2011 league table because of an improvement in its student satisfaction score and because graduate prospects are better as shown in the numbers getting graduate jobs or undertaking further study six months after leaving university. King's College London has also risen four places, to 13th position. And Sussex, the university at the heart of strike action by the University and College Union because of cuts that it is making, has risen from 25th to 19th position, largely because of student satisfaction scores and spending on academic services, such as IT and libraries, and facilities such as sports centres and student venues. Read full text here..