Universities across the East Midlands will soon be welcoming flocks of ambitious young people to the region, as the time for orientation week festivities nears.
The Guardian has now released its new university league table for the 2025 academic year just in time. It gives most of the UK’s 160-odd universities an overall score out of 100 based on a range of different metrics, ranking them in the process.
These factors include current student’s satisfaction with both teaching and feedback, the school’s staff-to-student ratio, how much money the institution spends per student, the average UCAS entry score for new starters accepted into the university, percentage of first year students continuing on to their second year of study - and even graduate career prospects.
It’s worth noting that a few don’t appear to be included in the overall ranking, including Lincoln’s Bishop Grosseteste University. The compiler says that some institutions cannot be included in the final list, because not enough data was available.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that a low score overall doesn’t mean that university is a bad place to study. The Guardian says that different universities’ rankings can jump around year-on-year based on factors like additional funding. Universities with lower overall rankings also sometimes rank highly for specific subjects or courses.
Here is how the East Midlands’ universities fared compared to others across the UK, in order:

1. Loughborough University
Loughborough University - based in Loughborough, Leicestershire - is ranked 10th overall in the UK this year, keeping a firm grip on its spot from last year. The Guardian gave it a score of 74.6 out of 100. | Google

2. University of Leicester
Leicester is ranked 34th overall this year, a significant leap up from its place as 48th last year. The Guardian gave it a score of 61.5 out of 100. | Google

3. Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent is ranked 49th overall in the UK this year in The Guardian’s league table, down from 42nd place last year. It was given an overall score of 59.6 out of 100. | Google

4. University of Lincoln
The University of Lincoln came in just behind it, ranking 50th overall this year - down from 41st last year. The Guardian gave it a score of 59.4 out of 100. | Google