Cambridge: University Third In Rankings

28 September 2013, 06:58 | Updated: 28 September 2013, 07:45

The University of Cambridge has been ranked third in the country for student's quality of life.

The research by Lloyds Bank used a range of sources to look at how universities scored against factors such as accommodation costs, sports facilities, students' earnings potential and crime rates.

Durham University came first, scoring highly for academic excellence as well as its social life, followed by Loughborough and then Cambridge.

Nine out of 10 students at Durham were happy with their course according to the research, scoring more highly than the average of 85% across the study.

Durham was also found to hold some of the "best sporting facilities'' among British universities, while Durham students also rated their social lives as among the best in Britain.

Crime rates in Durham were the lowest in the survey, with a rate of 0.88 incidents per 1,000 residents. 

Loughborough University also scored highly in terms of sporting excellence and 88% of students said they were satisfied with their course. 

Students at the Leicestershire university live in an area with a relatively low crime rate and have close to 100 bars and pubs to choose from, according to the findings. 

Meanwhile, students living in Newcastle and Sheffield were found to be the happiest with their social lives and Manchester students were found to have the biggest choice of pubs in their local area at almost 250. 

Bath University was rated as providing the most satisfactory educational experience, with 94% of final year students saying they were happy with the quality of their course. 

Students at the University of Northumbria were found to have the cheapest institution-owned or sponsored accommodation, followed by the universities of Swansea, Teeside and Staffordshire. 

Meanwhile, the highest full-time salaries were found to be earned by graduates of the London School of Economics (LSE), where graduates reported an average salary of £27,388 after six months in employment. 

The earning power of LSE graduates was followed by that of those from Cambridge, King's College London and Oxford. 

Nitesh Patel, an economist at Lloyds Bank, said: "Taking a wide range of indicators into account, students at Durham University enjoy the best quality of student life. 

Durham students are satisfied with the quality of their course, which appears to provide them with excellent employment prospects, but they also rate their social life highly and live in a low crime environment.'' 

He added that the "provincial cities in the North'' tended to rate particularly highly in terms of "a good social life''.