| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
| QS World Ranking | 127 | 133 | 129 | 162 | 158 | 140 | 127 | 126 |
| Times Higher Education World ranking | 152 | 146 | 180 | |||||
| Times Higher Education World ranking – International Outlook | 37 | 48 | 52 | |||||
| Academic ranking of world universities (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) | 203 -300 | 151 -200 | 203 -304 | 201 -302 | 201 -302 | 201 -300 | 201 -300 | 201 -300 |
| Leiden Ranking (mean normalised citation score) | 92 | 167 |
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
| Sunday Times | 26 | 25 | 25 | 23 | 24 | 20 | 12 | 17 |
| Complete University guide | 23 | 27 | 24 | 29 | 24 | 23 | ||
| Times | 19 | 25 | 23 | 20 | 21 | 25 | 25 | 23 |
| Guardian | 43 | 38 | 41 | 43 | 40 | 37 | 31 | 33 |
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
| Research Assessment Exercise 2008 Grade Point Average – Measure of Quality. Sector ranking |
27 | |||||||
| Research Assessment Exercise 2008 Grade Point Average – Measure of Quality. Ranking in Russell and 1994 Groups |
25 | |||||||
| Research Assessment Exercise 2008 Measure of Power. Sector ranking |
17 | |||||||
| Research Assessment Exercise 2008 Measure of Power. Ranking in Russell and 1994 Groups |
17 | |||||||
| National Student Survey Sector ranking |
55 | 36 | 23 | 21 | 10* | 14 | ||
| Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) Overall % Satisfaction |
82.9% | 89.2% | 90.7% | |||||
| Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) Overall % Satisfaction |
87.6% | 89.0% | ||||||
| International Student Barometer Overall % Satisfaction |
83% | 90% | 91% | 91% | 91% | |||
| International Student Barometer UK Sector Ranking |
27 | 23 | 32 | 17 | ||||
Destination of Leavers |
13 | 48 | 41 | 5* | 16= | |||
| British University and Colleges Sports Sector ranking |
9 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 15 | 10 | ||
| People and Planet Green League Sector ranking |
38 | 30 | 72 | 104 | 63 | 26 | ||
* Comparable institutions sector ranking.