News Archive

Reading maintains strong position in Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018

The University of Reading has been ranked in the top quarter of UK universities for the third year running in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018.

Reading is ranked at 32 in the table, down one place from last year's rankings, and is again ranked sixth in the list of universities in the South East. The rankings measure 128 institutions from across the UK.

Highlights from the Guide released on Sunday 24 September include:

• Reading has been ranked in the top 30 in the UK for Research Quality for the tenth consecutive year (29th).
• Six of the University's subjects are in the top ten nationwide, including: Land and Property Management (2nd), Building (4th), Animal Science (4th), Food Science (6th), Agriculture & Forestry (5th), and Town & Country Planning and Landscape Design (10th).
• The number of students obtaining a First or 2:1 has increased to over 81% (up 0.6%) - above the sector average of 72.9% and ranking Reading at 24th in the UK.
• Facilities spend per student increased from £2,175 to £2,344 - putting Reading at 35th nationally, up three places from last year.
• 11 subjects are in the top 25% in their field: Accountancy & Finance, Animal Science, Archaeology, Art and Design, Building, Business Studies, Education, Food Science, Land & Property Management, Politics and Subjects Allied to Medicine.
• Politics has risen 21 places in its subject table to be ranked 18th in the UK and is now in the top 25% in the country. Mathematics has also risen considerably to be ranked 28th in the UK (up 12 places from 40th in the 2017 Guide).
• Reading moved up four places in the ranking for Student-Staff Ratio - from 38th to 34th.

Professor Robert Van der Noort, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic Planning and Resource at the University of Reading, said: "We are pleased that the University has maintained its position among the leading group of universities in the UK.

"We are continually working to improve the experience of studying at Reading. We have invested half a billion pounds over the past decade in improving our facilities. For example, we have just opened a new indoor tennis centre, have invested heavily in student accommodation and are spending £40m to refit our main Library.

"We will continue to listen to students, staff and the local community to further improve as we approach our centenary in 2026."

In other international league tables, the University is ranked within the Top 200 of the QS World University Rankings index, and has improved its position in the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities for the past two years, in which it was ranked as third best in the UK - behind only Cambridge and Oxford universities - for Earth Sciences.

In the UK, Reading is ranked 29th in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2018 (up three places), 27th in the Complete University Guide 2018 and 18th in the UK in the Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2017 (up two places).

The full Good University Guide rankings for 2018 can be found at: www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/gooduniversityguide.

**This news story was updated on 27 September to include information released with the full publication of the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018 on 24 September.**