University of Southampton ranked as second best in South East

Ahead of the new university term starting the annual ranking from The Times has looked into various factors to rank the institutions, including degree completion rates, satisfaction with teaching quality and student employment prospects.

The Times adds: "The guide provides prospective students and their families with the right information to make an informed choice about their higher education, evaluating everything from satisfaction with teaching quality and the student experience through to degree completion rates and graduate employment prospects." 

As part of this, the University of Southampton has been ranked as number two in the South East of England region, only behind the University of Oxford.

Overall in the UK, it was ranked 17th, which was a very slight fall from 16th in the 2023 ranking last year.

Another Southampton university in Solent University was ranked 15th for the region and 109th overall.

A full list of the UK university ranking tables can be found on The Times website here.

Top 15 South East of England Universities

The top 15 universities ranked by The Times and Sunday Times for the South East of England are as follows:

1. University of Oxford
2. University of Southampton
3. University of Surrey
4. University of Reading
5. University of Sussex 
6. University of Kent
7. University of Chichester 
8. University of Buckingham 
9. Oxford Brookes University 
10. University of Portsmouth 
11. University for the Creative Arts 
12. University of Winchester 
13. University of Brighton 
14. University of Hertfordshire 
15. Solent University 

Helen Davies, editor of The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide, said:  “The higher education landscape has never been tougher.

"It is more competitive to get a place at many of our top institutions; the cost of attending university has soared, leaving graduates with extraordinary debt; and in many cases campus life still bears the scars of the pandemic. Meanwhile lecturers are on strike and the marking crisis is a running scandal.  

The University of Southampton ranked 17th in the whole of the UK (Image: Newsquest)

“It means any prospective student, parent or carer needs to think hard about whether university is the right choice, and then where to study and what subject. It’s where this guide — our 30th edition — is here to help.

"Our online version has so much more on how the universities compare subject by subject, a guide on campus life, and what scholarships and bursaries may be on offer.  

“We are here to champion the ambitious work of our first-class universities, and the aspirations of any student of any age who wants to keep on learning.”