The University of Northampton has climbed nearly 40 places in the new university league table, it has been revealed.
The university moved from 101st to 62nd place and was the biggest climber in the report published by the Complete Universiy Guide.
Vice chancellor Professor Nick Petford described it as “great news” and comes as the university recently signed sponsorship deals with Northampton Town and Northampton Saints.
Northampton also boasts it is the number one university for employability, with 96 per cent of graduates from full-time courses in 2010/11 were in employment or further study within six months of completeing their course.
The table, which was topped by Cambridge University, used available data to rank universities on nine measures including student satisfaction, research, entry standards, staff to student ratios, spending on academic services, spending on facilities, good honours degrees, graduate prospects and completion data.
Mr Petford said: “We are both proud and excited that the University of Northampton has risen by 39 places in the Complete University Guide, a jump that is unprecedented and places us at number 62, making us the highest-climbing university in the country by far.
“This leap is the result of the dedication and professionalism of all our staff. It demonstrates our commitment to transform ourselves into an internationally facing university, with our unique strategy that takes an institutional and holistic approach to integrating social enterprise into our student offer, teaching and learning and research.
“Despite this great result there is no room for complacency. The sector faces considerable challenges in the coming years so it is essential maintain our drive for continuous improvement and complete our ambition to be a top 50 ranked university by 2015.”
In total, 124 UK institutions were included in this year’s guide, which is published online, compared with 116 last year.
The top 10 universities overall this year were Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Imperial College London, Durham, St Andrews, University College London, Warwick, Bath and Exeter. All apart from Exeter were featured in last year’s top 10.
Dr Bernard Kingston, principal author of the Complete University Guide, said it was “beyond dispute” that the table’s top 10 “includes some of the world’s finest higher education institutions”.
Director Nova Jayne Robinson said that the guide gives would-be students “reliable and comprehensive” information when making university choices.
Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of vice-chancellors’ group Universities UK, said: “It is good that there is a growing amount of information about university courses to help inform potential students.
“However, league tables and guides cannot tell the whole story about universities and individual courses. Positions can vary from one table to the next, based often on small statistical margins.
“Applicants, and those advising them, will want to consider a fuller range of information before they make their final choices.”