University

TQA

RAE

A Lev

Score

1

Cambridge

E

5*

A

29.4

100.0

2

Durham

E

5*

A

27.5

98.7

3

Bristol

E

5*

A

27.0

98.4

4

London, UCL

E

5*

A

24.5

96.6

5

Sheffield

E

5

A

26.2

94.0

6

Leeds

E

5

A

24.8

93.1

7

Southampton

E

5

A

23.2

92.0

8

Oxford

E

4

A

28.7

92.0

9

Nottingham

E

4

A

27.1

90.9

10

East Anglia

E

4

A

90.7

11

Edinburgh

HS

5*

A

26.5

90.5

12

Birmingham

E

4

B

25.3

87.7

13

Manchester

E

4

B

25.1

87.6

14

Exeter

E

4

B

24.5

87.1

15

Lancaster

E

4

A

20.2

86.2

16

Aberystwyth

E

4

B

20.3

84.3

17

London, Kings

E

3a

A

22.8

84.2

18

Swansea

E

4

B

20.1

84.1

19

Reading

E

3a

A

21.1

83.1

20

Glasgow

E

3a

B

22.8

82.6

Aberdeen

E

3a

B

18.0

Coventry

E

3a

B

12.6

London School of Economics

S

4

B

25.4

London, Queen Mary

E

4

B

17.1

London, Royal Holloway

S

5

A

19.7

Newcastle

S

5

B

23.6

Plymouth

E

3a

C

18.0

Portsmouth

E

3a

B

18.2

St Andrews

E

3a

B

22.1

Strathclyde

E

3b

D

Dundee

S

3a

B

15.2

Hull

S

4

A

20.7

Lampeter

S

3a

A

13.0

Leicester

S

3a

B

20.3

Liverpool

S

4

B

22.4

London, SOAS

S

3b

B

18.5

Loughborough

S

4

B

20.5

Oxford Brookes

E

2

A

15.4

Queens, Belfast

S

3a

C

21.0

Sussex

S

3a

B

20.7

Anglia

S

2

C

12.9

Brighton

S

2

B

14.5

Huddersfield

S

3b

B

14.3

Kent

S

22.1

Kingston

S

2

C

12.6

Liverpool John Moores

S

2

B

13.3

Middlesex

S

3b

C

10.5

Northumbria

S

2

A

15.8

Nottingham Trent

S

2

C

15.0

Staffordshire

S

2

D

12.6

Brunel

S

15.9

Cardiff

2

A

18.2

Central Lancashire

S

13.8

Derby

S

1

D

10.2

Greenwich

S

11.3

London Guildhall

S

1

D

Luton

S

9.7

Manchester Metropolitan

S

14.0

North London

S

1

D

Salford

S

14.0

Sunderland

S

7.5

Ulster

S

14.8

Westminster

S

10.0

Wolverhampton

S

11.8

Employment: 62.3% Further study: 23.7% Unemployment: 4.7% THERE is little to choose between the UK's top four geography departments. Each has teaching graded excellent and the highest rating for research. Their positions reflect differences in the average A-level points of their undergraduates, ranging from 29.4 at Cambridge to 24.5 at UCL in fourth place. Edinburgh, the only other department with a five-star research rating, just misses the top ten because its teaching was considered merely highly satisfactory. Twenty-seven universities were rated excellent. Five universities came close to the top rating for research: Sheffield, Leeds and Southampton, Newcastle and Royal Holloway.