Newcastle University

Newcastle University has maintained its strong position as one of the top institutions in the country, according to the latest Times Good University Guide.

The guide, released last week, puts Newcastle at 25th place in the UK, the same position as last year, but with substantial improvements to its overall score and to its performance in several of the key indicators.

At a time when students are considering higher tuition fees and choices for 2012 entry, an important category is ‘graduate prospects’.  Newcastle University is placed 15th in the UK, up from 29th last year- a key indicator of the employment boost a degree from Newcastle can give.  The University has also improved in the categories of student satisfaction and the percentage of good honours degrees achieved, along with spend on facilities and services, entry standards and the completion rate, which is now at over 94% placing Newcastle 12th nationally.

At subject level, Newcastle University scores well across the spectrum, with 26 subjects in the top twenty, including 14 in the top ten and 5 in the top five.

This year, Dentistry was in first place overall, and Newcastle scored 3rd place for Subjects Allied to Medicine, 4th place for Agriculture and Forestry and 5th place for Food Science and Anatomy and Physiology.

The latest guide reinforces Newcastle’s reputation and matches the findings of other guides released recently.

The Complete University Guide released by the Independent earlier this year had Newcastle in 24th place overall, up five places from the year before. And the latest Sunday Times University Guide placed Newcastle in the top 20 in the country.

Suzanne Cholerton Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Learning & Teaching, said: “It is pleasing that we are maintaining, and in many cases improving on, the very high standards we set ourselves.

“We continually look at how we can improve the experience we offer to students studying at Newcastle. The way in which our programmes provide students with knowledge and skills to enhance their employability is an outcome of higher education which will become increasingly important for students with the increase in tuition fees in 2012.”