UK's top 10 universities in full - but Oxford misses out on the key award

Britain's best universities have been revealed today, and they have been ranked according to The Good University Guide 2023.

With the average student debt costing around £50,000, it is important that pupils research the right institution and course for them.

Therefore, The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023 have today published its definitive rankings of the most comprehensive UK universities.

The list itself includes profiles on 135 universities across Britain, utilising the latest data published on the institutions within the last two months.

According to the guide, The University of Bath has been named The Times and The Sunday Times’ University of the Year.

Oxford may have missed out on University of the Year, but it did top the league tables (Getty Images)

While it ranks eighth in the overall league table - up from ninth in 2021 - it won the award on the account of its strength across the board. Being marked high for student satisfaction, and the fifth-highest for graduate prospects, Bath received record numbers of applicants in the 2021 and 2022 admissions cycles.

Meanwhile, Exeter was runner-up for University of the Year, having nearly doubled its enrolments over the past decade - while Birmingham, Oxford and Surrey were also shortlisted.

Oxford missed out on being named University of the Year, however it has topped the league table as the leading No.1 position for the past 12 years. In fact, the prestigious university performed superbly across all academic measures.

And Durham has been named the Sports University of the Year, with its collegiate structure encouraging high participation rates throughout the university.

The University of Edinburgh has just made the top 10 rank, rising from being 13th last year (PA)

Here are the top 10 university rankings of 2023:

1. University of Oxford

2. University of St Andrews

3. University of Cambridge

4. London School of Economics and Political Science

5. Imperial College London

6. Durham University

7. University College London

8. University of Bath

9. University of Warwick

10. University of Edinburgh

Sheffield Hallam University has ranked 82 this year, dropping from 72 last year (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Since 2013, The Times and The Sunday Times have produced and published a combined Good University Guide to provide the most comprehensive guide to higher education in Britain.

It supplies students and their parents with an invaluable reference point to finding the best university place, and contains a full profile of the top universities.

The academic league table itself is made up of nine indicators, including" student satisfaction with teaching quality and their wider student experience, research quality, graduate prospects, entrance qualifications held by new students, degree results achieved, student/staff ratios, service and facilities spend, and degree completion rates.