The Guardian University Guide 2023: See how Leeds unis rank in the league table

The new academic year is underway for many new students across the UK, having made their way to universities across the country through first choice selections or clearing - including Leeds.

The Guardian has once again published their annual best UK universities league table, where the newspaper ranks 121 different institutions throughout the country.

Rather than ranking the universities solely on academic research, The Guardian’s league table for 2023 focuses more on variables such as the standard of  teaching and graduate job prospects. This research is conducted by the annual National Student Survey.

Using this data, they are ranked through nine different scores which form a score out of 100.

How is the best UK universities 2023 league table decided?

This year The Guardian combined 2021 and 2022 NSS results to reflect how universities responded to the pandemic.

The newspaper also looked at how big class sizes are through the student-to-staff ratio and how much universities spend on teaching per student, as well as students’ A-level grades.

The Guardian also looks at whether a student’s academic performance improves at the university they are attending 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. For the 2023 table, The Guardian used data from 2018/19 and 2019/20 to minimise the impact of the pandemic, although there is still some disruption relative to earlier cohorts.

Where did Leeds universities place in the 2023 league table?

In The Guardian’s list of the best UK universities 2023, three of the four major universities in Leeds made it within the 121 listed by the newspaper.

The University of Leeds placed the highest of the three, but dropped from its previous position of 16 in 2022 to 20 in 2023 with an overall score of 75.5 out of 100.

Leeds Beckett rose to 102nd from their 109th position in 2022, with an overall score of 61.2 out of 100, achieving an impressive 91.1 out of 100 when first year students were asked if they would continue their studies with the institution.

Leeds Trinity also rose in the 2023 league table, climbing four places from their 117 position in 2022 to 113 in 2023. Again, they had a high rating with first year students admitting they would continue their studies with the institution.

Top ten universities according to The Guardian University Guide 2023

The top ten universities, according to The Guardian’s list of the best UK universities 2023, are as follows - Guardian scores are in brackets and are out of a possible 100.

1. St Andrews (100)
2. Oxford (99.4)
3. Cambridge (98.1)
4. London School of Economics (95.2)
5. Imperial College (89.3)
6. Durham (87)
7. Bath (85.8)
8. Warwick (84.2)
9. University College London (83.5)
10. Loughborough (82.6)

The full list of universities, including the options to look at what courses are rated highly at individual institutions, can be found at The Guardian’s website.