St Andrews beats Oxbridge to be crowned top UK University
The University of St Andrews has claimed the top spot in The Times’ 2022 rankings list, beating both Oxford and Cambridge in the process.
Historically Oxford or Cambridge has always come in first place. This year Cambridge slipped to third place after taking the top spot last year while Oxford maintained its position as second after being judged the best university in the world by the Times Higher Education world rankings.
Professor Sally Mapstone, the principal of St Andrews since 2016, said: “I am thrilled for our students, staff and alumni. They are the people who made this happen.”
Mapstone, who studied at Oxford, continued: “Of course we’ll enjoy this remarkable result, and I expect there may be a little good-natured cross-border teasing among colleagues. We have been in very good company close to the top of this important league table for several years, but until now, always on someone’s shoulder.
St Andrews, which was founded in 1413, excelled across all categories and improved its score across almost all of the eight metrics used for the rankings.
The Scottish university topped for board for teaching experience and student satisfaction which reached 86.5 and 84.2 per cent respectively. The average UCAS score of its new recruits was also higher than competitors coming in at 208, narrowly beating Cambridge which scored 207.
While the University of Cambridge received the highest score for research quality its overall score was 977, trailing behind St Andrews which scored 1,000 and Oxford which scored 978.
This year the guide’s top five universities included St Andrews, Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London and the London School of Economics.
Read more: Simply the best: Oxford named best-performing university in the world