Three West Midlands universities named in UK’s top 15

THREE West Midlands universities have been named in the UK’s top 15 by a respected university guide, increasing the reputation of the region’s academic offer.

Although Warwick slipped back three places to its 2013 ranking of 9th, Birmingham rose four places to 13th and Coventry maintained its elevated position of 15th.

The Guardian University Guide 2017 rankings see Coventry retain its position as the top-placed post-92 institution.

Coventry University’s vice-chancellor Prof John Latham said: “While we can be proud of how our increasingly distinguished position in UK higher education is being reflected in the rankings, it is nevertheless our achievements beyond our position in a league table which are defining Coventry as a university.”

The universities at the top of the table remained unchanged again, with Cambridge ahead of Oxford and St Andrews.

The guide uses eight statistical measures to rank a university’s performance in teaching each subject, including expenditure by the university on its students and the probability of a graduate finding a graduate-level job. These are then aggregated to produce the ranking for the institution.