The University of Sussex has been named one of Britain’s top 20 universities after student satisfaction ratings boosted its national ranking.
The Falmer-based university, which is currently facing student protests against swingeing cuts and indefinite strike action by staff, rose from 25th place to 19th – partly because of student satisfaction scores.
It also ranked well on spending on academic services such as IT and libraries and student facilities, including sports centres and other venues.
Brighton University came in at 73rd.
The vice-chancellor of Sussex, Professor Michael Farthing, welcomed the latest ranking. He said: “I believe this climb up the table reflects the work that we started three years ago to improve the student experience in the round – work that is clearly making a difference.
“Our success also reflects on the positive effect of new schemes such as Sussex Plus, which will enable our graduates to demonstrate what they have achieved in all of their academic and extra-curricular activities at Sussex.
“Current developments, including a major new teaching building opening in the summer, a radically overhauled library, a new creative arts centre for 2011 and more placement opportunities for our students, will further enhance the experience for future generations of students at Sussex.”
The universities were ranked on nine indicators:
- research quality
- entry standards
- staff/student ratio
- spending on academic services such as libraries
- spending on facilities such as function rooms and health centres
- good degree results
- job prospects
- degree results
- the National Student Survey
The research quality score was altered this year to take account of the proportion of staff who were submitted to the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.
An extra weighting of 1.5 has also been given to student satisfaction and research assessment.
Click here to access a table allowing you to compare universities’ scores.
