Coventry University and the University of Sussex have both made leaps to make the top 20 of the 2016 league table of universities published by The Guardian, beating many of their Russell Group peers.
Coventry climbed 12 places to 15th - the highest position ever achieved by a former polytechnic in the table - while Sussex jumped an impressive 24 places to reach 19th.
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The University of Kent and Loughborough University also rose within the top 20, to reach 16th and 11th respectively.Meanwhile, London School of Economics (LSE) dropped out of the top 10, falling from 7th to 13th, and Imperial College London slipped three places to eighth.
The Guardian league table: top 20 UK universities 2016
| 2016 rank | 2015 rank | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | University of Cambridge |
| 2 | 2 | University of Oxford |
| 3 | 3 | University of St Andrews |
| 4 | 6 | University of Surrey |
| 5 | 4 | University of Bath |
| =6 | 8 | Durham University |
| =6 | 9 | University of Warwick |
| 8 | 5 | Imperial College London |
| 9 | 12 | University of Exeter |
| 10 | 10 | Lancaster University |
| 11 | 15 | Loughborough University |
| 12 | 11 | University College London |
| 13 | 7 | London School of Economics |
| 14 | 19 | University of Southampton |
| 15 | 27 | Coventry University |
| 16 | 20 | University of Kent |
| 17 | 17 | University of Birmingham |
| 18 | 13 | Heriot-Watt Univeristy |
| 19 | 43 | University of Sussex |
| =20 | 18 | University of Edinburgh |
| =20 | 14 | University of East Anglia |