Best university list: Northern Ireland institution makes top 30 in Times grades
The grades are out – and one university in Northern Ireland has hit the top 30 in a leaderboard of the UK’s best facilities.
Every year, the Times newspaper publishes its Good University Guide, ranking around 130 academic institutions in the United Kingdom – the bulk of all those around, though some don’t make themselves available for such surveys while others are discounted from the analysis due to being too highly specialised.
Out today, the 2027 list sees the University of St Andrews top academic league tables, with the London School of Economics and Political Science in second place and Imperial College London third.
The University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, traditionally thought of as bastions of brainboxes boasting top-level test scores, came in fourth and fifth respectively.
In a list of the top 30 institutions released to the press in advance of the publication of the full guide, one facility in Northern Ireland was seen to make the grade.
Queen’s University Belfast came in at 27th place, with scores stating that 79.6% of students get what the Times labels “good honours”, defined as either a first or a 2:1 in their degrees.
Just over four in every five Queen’s students move on to high-skilled jobs or graduate-level study, the guide says, while 95.5% of its new enrolment are predicted to move on to the second year of their courses.
The placement is in fact a dip from last year’s mark, however, when the university was at number 21 on the leaderboard.
The full list revealed Ulster University reached number 34 on the chart, climbing 15 places from last year to score its best result to date.
The institution’s vice-chancellor, Paul Bartholomew, described the placing as “a significant endorsement of the work” the university’s teams perform.
“These outcomes reflect the dedication of our staff, the ambition of our students and the strength of the partnerships we have built with employers, industry and organisations locally, nationally and internationally,” he said.
The editor of the Times Good University Guide, Helen Davies, stated this year’s list shows “intellectual vigour, innovation, inspiration and ambition are alive and well on university campuses across the UK”.
She added: “What shines through more than ever this year is an emphasis on preparing students for future careers.”