Students from across England’s North West and beyond will soon converge on campuses in centres like Manchester, Liverpool and Lancaster - ready for their new lives as university students.
The Guardian has released its new, updated university league table for the 2025 academic year. It comes as thousands of secondary school and sixth-form college leavers and their families across the country prepare for what will no doubt be some huge changes - with orientation week now not far off for many.
The league table evaluates the UK’s 160-odd universities based on a number of factors and gives them an overall score out of 100 - ranking them in the process. Metrics taken into account include current student’s satisfaction with both teaching and feedback, the staff to student ratio, how much money the institution spends per student, the average UCAS entry score for new starters accepted into the university, percentage of first year students continuing on to their second year of study - and even graduate career prospects.
It’s worth noting that different universities’ rankings might jump around a bit year-on-year, based on factors like additional funding. The Guardian’s list also allows you to sort schools by the different courses they offer, so it’s worth taking a look at your area of interest. Universities with lower overall rankings are sometimes ranked exceptionally well in some specific areas of teaching.
Without further ado, here are the top-scoring North West’s universities from the new league table:
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1. Lancaster University
Lancaster University, which as its name suggests is based in Lancaster, ranked 11th overall in the UK this year in The Guardian’s league table - maintaining its spot from last year. It was given an overall score of 73.5 out of 100. | Adobe Stock
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2. University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool ranked 27th overall this year, shooting up from 36th place last year. The Guardian gave it an overall score of 63.2 out of 100. | Adobe Stock
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3. University of Manchester
The University of Manchester came in 31st overall this year, dropping down from 24th place last year. The Guardian gave it an overall score of 62.3 out of 100. | Adobe Stock
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4. University of Bolton
The nearby University of Bolton came close behind, in 32nd place overall this year - down from 30th last year. The Guardian gave it an overall score of 62.2 out of 100. | Google