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:
5. University of Derby
Derby is ranked 54th overall this year, up from 55th place last year. The Guardian gave it a score of 58.2 out of 100 (shared with one other university). | Google
6. University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham came in 62nd place overall this year, down from 59th last year. The Guardian gave it a score of 56.2 out of 100. | Google
7. University of Northampton
Northampton is ranked 113th this year, down from 107th last year. The Guardian gave it a score of 43.9 out of 100. | Google
8. De Montfort University
De Montfort, based in Leicester, ranked 118th overall this year - down from 117th last year. The Guardian gave it a score of 41.1 out of 100. | Google