Department in top five of Guardian 2006 league table

Not only did this Department recently top the National Student Survey student satisfaction tables in its sector, but a Table published this week in the Guardian newspaper has also placed us in the top five in the national rankings of similar Departments. The Guardian league tables assess teaching quality, staff-student ratios and graduate job prospects. The guide also takes into account the average entry qualification, spending per student, the value-added improvement each university gives students and its record on attracting candidates from under-represented groups.
This year, the Guardian is presenting its on-line tables grouped by tariff band – the total tariff points a student expects to have when entering university. In our tariff band (4), the department comes top, and ranks number five overall across all six tariff bands.
Head of Department Professor Michael Fairhurst said: “This is an indication of the high esteem in which our courses are held nationally, but it is also important to note that the basis on which the Table was compiled includes components reflecting the quality of our teaching and the employability of our graduates, so it is pretty comprehensive in its scope. Taken together, these two recent surveys show quite clearly that, both in course quality and in the experience which we offer to our students, we are very much one of the leaders in our education sector.”