Guides and rankings

Complete University Guide

We rank ninth overall out of 124 UK universities in the 2014 Complete University Guide.

The guide uses nine factors to score each university and we performed well in a number of areas, including being scored:  

• equal ninth for student satisfaction
• seventh for completion rates
• ninth for graduate prospects
• ninth for the percentage of our graduates achieving a first or upper second class honours degree.

The guide highlights our excellent levels of student satisfaction and also our high completion rates - meaning more of our students complete their chosen degree.

It also publishes individual subject rankings using four measures: student satisfaction, research assessment, entry standards and graduate prospects.

We score in the top ten in 20 out of the 26 subjects offered at Bath, with Architecture and Accounting & Finance topping their tables as the number one place to study the subject in the UK - a great indicator of the strength of our teaching.

The Guardian University Guide

 We rose two places to rank a very strong seventh in the Guardian University Guide 2014.

The guide highlighted high levels of student satisfaction and excellent graduate career prospects as our key strengths.

We ranked first for student satisfaction; equal seventh in the UK for graduate prospects; and fourth in the UK for student satisfaction in the teaching provided.

Our strong showing in many of these key quality performance indicators has led to our place in the top ten nationally.

The Sunday Times University Guide

We are the third best university in the UK according to The Sunday Times University Guide 2013.

It's our highest ever ranking in their guide and means only Cambridge and Oxford sit above us in the table of 126 UK universities and colleges.

The top three ranking recognises our all-round excellence, encompassing a range of aspects of research, teaching, employability and the student experience, and follows on from the University being named ‘University of the Year' for  2011/12.

“ To be ranked third in the UK confirms the research and teaching excellence that takes place here, and clearly demonstrates the high quality, distinctive student experience we offer. ”

— Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell, Vice-Chancellor

Published in September 2012, the guide also ranks universities’ performance by the individual subjects they teach.

We excelled in these tables, coming top in no fewer than three subjects: Architecture, Mechanical Engineering and Business Studies. Again, only Cambridge and Oxford came top in more subject tables than us.

The guide is in its 15th year of publication and has a readership of three million. It provides a British university league table as well as profiles of all the UK’s higher education institutions.

The Times Good University Guide

We rank ninth out of 117 universities in the 2013 guide, a rise of three places from last year.

Our subject areas also scored highly with 20 subjects featuring in the top ten in their individual tables.

Three subject areas have been ranked as number one - Architecture, Accounting & Finance, and Social Work - demonstrating there is no better place to study these disciplines.

In the overall table we performed well in a number of areas. We ranked fourth for student satisfaction; eighth for graduate prospects; equal sixth for completion rates of our students; and ninth for the level of honours our graduates obtain.

We also featured as tenth in the UK for universities targeted by the largest number of key employers.

Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath, said: “In the current economic climate, it’s particularly pleasing to see we are eighth in the UK for the graduate prospects performance measure, and that we also remain in the top ten universities targeted by the largest number of key employers.

“This is in no small part due to the competitive advantage our graduates enjoy of having a high quality placement on their CV making them highly sought after by some of the world’s leading employers."

Lieden Ranking

The Lieden Ranking measures the scientific performance of 500 major universities worldwide.

In the 2012/13 ranking we are 190th out of 500 universities.

Using a sophisticated set of bibliometric indicators, the ranking aims to provide highly accurate measurements of the scientific impact of universities and of universities’ involvement in scientific collaboration.

The ranking is based on over 25 years of bibliometric experience at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) of Leiden University.

QS World University Rankings

In The Guardian's ‘QS top 50 universities under 50’ table for 2012 we are ranked 12th in the world.

The rankings are based on the same criteria as the QS World University Rankings  – size, subject range and research intensity – but with the fourth aspect, age, restricted to those less than 50 years-old.

In the QS World University Rankings 2011/2012 we have an overall ranking of 178 from over 700 universities internationally.

The Times Higher Education

In the Times Higher Education's ‘100 under 50’ 2013 table we were ranked 34th. This table is compiled using the same criteria as their World University Rankings but with the weighting for academic reputation reduced to recognise that older universities have deeper and more established alumni networks.

Phil Baty, Times Higher Education rankings editor, said: “It is particularly impressive that Bath has climbed up the table this year - The Times Higher Education 100 Under 50 rankings highlight some exceptional achievements from fast-developing and exceptionally well-funded institutions in East Asia, notably in South Korea and Singapore.

“ To be rising in such a list against such tough global competition is a great achievement. ”

Phil Baty, Editor, Times Higher Education