The Guardian University Guide 2023: See how Sheffield unis rank in the league table

The new academic year is underway for many new students across the UK, having made their way to universities across the country through first choice selections or clearing - including Sheffield.

The Guardian has once again published their annual best UK universities league table, where the newspaper ranks 121 different institutions throughout the country.

Rather than ranking the universities solely on academic research, The Guardian’s league table for 2023focuses more on variables such as the standard of  teaching and graduate job prospects. This research is conducted by the annual National Student Survey.

Using this data, they are ranked through nine different scores which form a score out of 100 and then placed in.

How is the best UK universities 2023 league table decided?

This year The Guardian combined 2021 and 2022 NSS results to reflect how universities responded to the pandemic.

The newspaper also looked at how big class sizes are through the student-to-staff ratio and how much universities spend on teaching per student, as well as students’ A-level grades.

The Guardian also looks at whether a student’s academic performance improves at the university they are attending and how likely they are to continue with their course.

There’s also data on how many students get graduate jobs 15 months after leaving university. For the 2023 table, The Guardian used data from 2018/19 and 2019/20 to minimise the impact of the pandemic, although there is still some disruption relative to earlier cohorts.

Where did Sheffield universities place in the 2023 league table?

In The Guardian’s list of the best UK universities 2023, both universities appeared in the league table, but have dropped since 2022’s list.

The University of Sheffield placed highest of the two, dropping from 27th position to 30 with an overall score of 70 out of 100.

The university however rated high when first year students were asked in the survey if they would continue their studies with a score of 96.8.

Sheffield Hallam placed 78th, dropping down from their 2022 place of 59 with an overall score of 65.9. However it’s accessibility was commended as an average UCAS tariff to attend the university is 199 points.

Top ten universities according to The Guardian University Guide 2023

The top ten universities, according to The Guardian’s list of the best UK universities 2023, are as follows - Guardian scores are in brackets and are out of a possible 100.

1. St Andrews (100)
2. Oxford (99.4)
3. Cambridge (98.1)
4. London School of Economics (95.2)
5. Imperial College (89.3)
6. Durham (87)
7. Bath (85.8)
8. Warwick (84.2)
9. University College London (83.5)
10. Loughborough (82.6)

The full list of universities, including the options to look at what courses are rated highly at individual institutions, can be found at The Guardian’s website.