Durham University is top of the North East university rankings, and sits sixth place nationally, according to The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023.
A non-mover this year, Durham University maintains its position as sixth in the league tables. It has also been named by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023 as the Sports University of the Year, a result of its intense sporting rivalries and high rates of participation.
Durham is third in the British University and Colleges Sport league for 2021-22 and has turned out 141 professional sports stars, making it the top producer in the UK.
Students at Sunderland have expressed the highest satisfaction levels in the North East for teaching quality. Its medical and allied healthcare students are able to hone their skills in the university's newly opened Anatomy Centre, which supports cadaveric anatomy, which is considered the gold standard in this subject.
Elsewhere, Teesside has topped the North East rankings for the overall undergraduate student experience, ranking 38th in the overall tables after an 80-place upturn. Its campus masterplan has already turned a £275 million investment into new developments.
The new edition of The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023, a free 96-page supplement, will be published this weekend in The Sunday Times (September 18). It provides the definitive rankings for UK universities and the most comprehensive overview of higher education in Britain.
It includes profiles on 135 universities and the definitive UK university rankings, making use of the latest data published in the past two months. A fully searchable website with university profiles and 70 subject tables will be published here today (September 16) for subscribers to The Times and The Sunday Times.
Top universities in the North East
Regional rank |
University |
National rank |
Last year’s national rank |
2022 National student survey teaching quality (%) |
2022 National student survey student experience (%) |
Graduate prospects (% in high-skilled jobs or graduate-level study) |
Completion rate (%) |
1 |
Durham University |
6 |
6 |
74.9 |
70.8 |
87.3 |
97.2 |
2 |
Newcastle University |
33= |
42 |
68.8 |
66.7 |
82.3 |
94.5 |
3 |
Northumbria University |
49 |
62= |
74.1 |
70.1 |
78.2 |
83.4 |
4 |
Teesside University |
86 |
118 |
78.3 |
73.7 |
78.1 |
77.1 |
5 |
University of Sunderland |
98= |
77 |
78.5 |
73.5 |
66.1 |
78.3 |
The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023 provides students and their parents with an invaluable first reference point on the path to finding a university place. It contains full profiles of all universities.
The academic league table is made up of eight indicators including student satisfaction with teaching quality and their wider student experience, research quality, graduate prospects, entrance qualifications held by new students, degree results achieved, student/staff ratios, and degree completion rates.
Expanded coverage with 70 subject tables and full interactive tables on all the league table components, and additional features are available to Times and Sunday Times subscribers via this link. Readers can also join in the conversation online by using the hashtag #GoodUniGuide
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