Cambridge University named best in UK in annual league table

'All universities strive for continual improvement and it is conceivable that in the future others may pose a challenge to Cambridge and Oxford'

A punt passes beneath The Bridge of Sighs at St John’s College (Getty)

For the eighth year in a row Cambridge University has been named the best in the UK .

The prestigious institution has topped the Complete University Guide 2019 once again, beating Oxford University which was ranked in second place again in the annual league table.

The rankings are based on a variety of measures - including student satisfaction, research, the proportion of good honours degrees awarded, employment prospects and completion rates.

The report's authors noted that the proportion of graduates gaining a first or 2.1 degree has increased year-on-year across the UK since the table was first created.

The universities comprising the top 10 remain the same as last year - but the order in which they are ranked has changed.

The London School of Economics (LSE) moved up to third place and the Imperial College London rose to fourth – meanwhile the University of St Andrews fell two places to fifth.

Loughborough climbed three places to seventh as the University College London dropped to tenth. Durham (6^th), Lancaster (8^th) and Warwick (9^th) were also all placed in the top 10 UK universities.

The latest rankings, which cover 131 institutions, shows that the biggest climber of the league table was Staffordshire University, which moved up 32 places to joint 73rd.

Dr Bernard Kingston, chairman of thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk, said: "It is a fact that Cambridge and Oxford have usually topped the table.

“But some 20 British universities could be regarded as top world-class institutions - some ancient like Cambridge and Oxford, and some modern like Warwick and Lancaster. All are able to attract faculty and research funding globally. This clearly influences the quality of their undergraduate teaching and enables them to recruit high-quality students.

He added: “All universities strive for continual improvement, and it is conceivable that in the future others may pose a challenge to Cambridge and Oxford."

In this year’s league table, all top 24 universities - except Lancaster University - have awarded good honours to over 80 per cent of their graduates.

Concerns were raised about grade inflation last year when the number of first class degrees being handed out to graduates at British universities soared.

Dr Kingston added: "The proportion of good honours has steadily but inexorably increased at almost all universities. Either students are working harder, or they are being better taught, or something else is happening.

"But it is one of the criteria over which universities have a significant degree of control.”

Here is the top 10:

1. Cambridge
2. Oxford
3. London School of Economics
4. Imperial College London
5. University of St Andrews
6. Durham
7. Loughborough
8. Lancaster
9. Warwick
10. University College London