Lancaster has been ranked the top university in the North West in the Independent and the Guardian national league tables. The Independent’s table, published in April, places Lancaster in the top 10 in England.

The Independent’s Complete University Guide 2010 ranks Lancaster 12th overall in the UK out of 113 institutions. Lancaster University is also ranked in the top 20 for student satisfaction.

The Guardian University guide published on May 12th, ranks Lancaster 16th out of 117 universities, and top in the North West.

Lancaster University is currently top in the North West in four national league tables; in The Sunday Times, The Times, The Guardian and The Independent.

Lancaster University is also ranked among the world’s best universities according to the Times Higher Education. Lancaster is one of only 29 UK universities ranked in the top 200 universities worldwide, coming in at number 170 in the annual THE-QS world university rankings

The 2008 National Student Survey also ranks Lancaster top in the North West and the joint top ranked university in the whole north of England. Overall, Lancaster is ranked 13th nationally in the survey which was completed by almost 220,000 students at universities and colleges across the UK.

Lancaster University has also emerged in the top band of UK Universities with a high proportion of its research rated ‘world leading’ in the latest Research Assessment Exercise published in 2008.

The RAE measures the quality of research conducted in universities and other higher education institutions in the UK against international standards of excellence.

• 19% of Lancaster’s research is ‘world leading’.
• Over 60% of Lancaster’s research is recognised as being of an internationally excellent standard. This places Lancaster in the top 13% of UK universities in terms of world leading and internationally excellent research.
• Overall, 92% of research at Lancaster is recognised as being of an international standard and all units of assessment included world leading research.
• 13 departments are in the top 20 of UK institutions for their individual disciplines. This equates to 73% of staff.

Lancaster is ranked joint 15th out of 147 UK institutions for the amount of research judged to be of world leading importance.

Lancaster is a member of the 1994 group of research led universities.