Welcome to the Guardian University Guide 2024. With a cost of living crisis and longer repayment terms on student loans, deciding whether university is worth it has never been such a pressing question. This guide is here to remind you that going to university is about more than how much you’ll earn after graduating – it’s also about learning new things, discovering new interests, making friends and having fun.
The Guardian rankings will help you figure out which universities give their students the best experience, rather than just showing you which are strongest in academic research, like most other league tables.
We rank universities through eight different scores, which form a total out of 100. These include what students say about their teaching and feedback in the annual National Student Survey.
We also look at how big class sizes are through the student-to-staff ratio and how much universities spend on teaching each student, as well as students’ A-level grades and whether their academic performance improves at university (the value-added score), and how likely they are to continue with their course. There’s also data on how many students get graduate jobs 15 months after leaving university. Any blank spaces mean there is data missing, so we focus on the other measures.
In the guide, you’ll find our overall league table of UK universities as well as individual subject profiles and tables. We’ve also got lots of advice to help you make up your mind and start planning for university, from recipes to learn to how to find a part-time job.
The rankings change annually, and some universities may benefit from temporary measures such as funding boosts. Don’t forget that universities languishing at the bottom of the overall table can be top for certain subjects – so check out our subject tables and profiles to build up a full picture.