University of Sheffield crowned top in Yorkshire by Sunday Times

The University of Sheffield has been named as the top university in Yorkshire by the Sunday Times University Guide 2012.

The Sunday Times called our University “Yorkshire’s great success story this year” as it rose to first place, overtaking York to become the region’s top university. We have also risen to 13th position in the national rankings, from 15th last year and 18th in 2009.

During the last Research Assessment Exercise in 2008 our gave an outstanding performance in a variety of areas including the health professions, engineering and science. It produced world-leading research in 47 of the 49 subjects submitted, including psychology, architecture and law.

The Sunday Times University Guide 2012 was published on Sunday 11 September. It contained a league table of all UK universities, drawn up from criteria including student satisfaction, teaching and research quality, degree results achieved, student-staff ratios and graduate unemployment levels. The Guide is a well-known and popular resource for students and parents when considering which universities to apply to.

The ranking is the latest in a long line of recent accolades for our University, including shortlisting for three prestigious Times Higher Education Awards 2011 and listing in the top ten for student satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2011. The University was also successful in the recent Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey where it ranked second overall in the country. It was also named top for its Students' Union, joint first for its social life, library facilities and accommodation and the ‘University most people would recommend to a friend.’

The University’s pioneering research has also been highly commended this year, being named in the top 100 QS World University Rankings and in the top 100 Times Higher Education World University Reputation Rankings, based exclusively on universities’ standing among experienced academics all over the globe..

Professor Keith Burnett, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, commented: “Being named top in the region by the Sunday Times University Guide is a fantastic accolade for the University, and one that is richly deserved. The University has not only been named top in Yorkshire but we have also seen a rise in our national ranking, highlighting our exceptional reputation both at home and overseas.

“The University has been acknowledged in recent awards and rankings in a wide variety of areas, including outstanding student satisfaction, innovative widening participation schemes and world-leading research, demonstrating our commitment to constantly strive towards excellence in everything that we do.”