Complete University Guide 2024: Leeds Beckett University climbs 40 places to reach number 66 in new rankings

Leeds Beckett University has made an astonishing 40 place leap up on the 2024 rankings in the Complete University Guide. The city’s second biggest university has advanced from rank 106 to 66 in the league table on just one year, in an achievement Vice Chancellor Peter Slee calls a great moment for everyone at the school.

“It’s a very big jump, and we are absolutely delighted with that”, he tells the Yorkshire Evening Post. “We’ve worked hard for this as a university community for a long time.” 

The CUG 2024 league table is based on a number of criteria, including entry standards, student satisfaction, research quality and intensity and graduate prospects in the last year.

Prof Slee continues: “It’s a little bit like looking in the rear view mirror. We’ve been working hard for a while, we’ve been seeing outcomes for students and our relationship with our communities improving. 

“So in that sense it’s been great to see it finally come through in the league tables. And I think it’s a more accurate reflection now of the kind of place that we all feel that we are and the contribution that we feel that we are making to our city.”

Leeds Beckett’s leap of 40 places on the league table is by far the biggest on this years’ guide, something Peter thinks comes down to timing: “There are about 10 elements that go into this particular league table, and we’ve been improving all of those steadily over a number of years. And they have all come together in reporting at the same time.”

“And it’s been very gratifying to see that happen and I think it will put a spring in the step of our students who will be proud to be part of a university that is looking more and more successful. And it will certainly put a spring in the step of our staff who’ve worked so hard to bring us about.”

The 2024 Guide sees Cambridge steal the top spot from Oxford, who landed in second place. University of Leeds, however, has gone down six ranks, from 16 to 22. 

Leeds Art University entered the list for the first time at rank 94, while Horsforth based Leeds Trinity University advanced from 128 on the 2023 table to 121.

The Complete University Guide looks at 130 UK Higher Education institutions and rank them based on ten different criteria: Entry Standards, Student Satisfaction, Research Quality, Research Intensity, Graduate Prospects – outcomes, Graduate Prospects – on track, Student-Staff Ratio, Spending on Academic Services, Spending on Student Facilities, and Continuation. 

Talking about the future of Leeds Beckett University, the vice chancellor said: “If we continue to work hard and focus on meeting the needs of our students and our stakeholders and the people in the city, then the league tables will take care of themselves. The most important thing for us is to focus on doing a great job for the people who really matter, and then we’ll take things from there.”

You can find the Complete University Guide 2024 here.

Yorkshire Evening Post has contacted University of Leeds for a comment.