Published today (29 May), the Guardian league tables focuses on the university activities that matter most to young people: quality of teaching, student satisfaction and employability. 

The guide, produced by the independent company Intelligent Metrix, ranks universities according to: the university’s spend per student; the student/staff ratio; graduate career prospects; what grades applicants need to get a place; a value-added score that compares students’ entry qualifications with their final degree results; the proportion of students that continue with their studies and how satisfied final-year students are with their courses, based on results from the annual NSS.

The proportion of students satisfied with their course has increased significantly, with Swansea now ranked 13^th in the UK. The table also confirms Swansea University as a sector leader in Wales, and as a top 20 ranking university in the UK (16^th) for supporting students to achieve positive graduate outcomes. 

Swansea University is ranked 13th in the UK for student satisfaction 

The overall Guardian league table is accompanied by subject rankings, showing how universities perform across 54 areas of study. In these tables, Swansea features in 30 subject areas and has improved its rankings in half of them. Twelve subjects appear in the top 20, with six appearing in the top 10 of their respective tables.

• Nursing and Midwifery – 2^nd
• Criminology – 3^rd
• Medicine – 3^rd
• Social Policy – 7^th
• American Studies – 8^th
• Engineering: Materials and Minerals – 8^th
• Media and Film Studies – 11^th
• Physics – 13^th
• Social Work – 14^th
• Engineering: General – 15^th
• Politics – 17^th
• Sports Science – 18^th

Some of these subject areas have made great advances up the tables, showing how much they have improved and the quality of provision they offer. In particular, Nursing is ranked 2^nd to supplement their top-100 QS World University Ranking 2018, Criminology has climbed 17 places to 3^rd,and Swansea University Medical School is also ranked 3^rd in the UK just below Oxford and Cambridge. Physics has made significant improvements across many of the metrics used in the tables, rising 27 places to 13^th. Politics improved by 29 places to 17^th, and Biosciences was the highest climber improving by 31 places to a top 30 ranking of 28^th. Other notable subject improvements were also seen by:

• History - up 17 places to 33^rd
• Law – up 11 places to 29^th
• Media and Film Studies – up 10 places to 11^th
• English – up 10 places to 37^th

Professor Hilary Lappin-Scott, senior pro-vice chancellor, said: “Once again Swansea University has been recognised for excellence, today being ranked as the best university in Wales by the Guardian University Guide. This outstanding achievement reflects the hard work and dedication of all our staff, supporting our students to do well, and shows our sustained high performance and rapidly-growing reputation of providing top quality teaching, research, student satisfaction and exceptional career prospects of our graduates.

“Our subjects are improving and we boast UK top-ranked subjects. This Guide is clear – Swansea University delivers excellence in student satisfaction (13th in the UK) and we prepare our students well to achieve their career goals (16th in the UK). Students who study here enjoy, become inspired and they achieve – having a greater chance of securing excellent employment prospects than most other UK universities and the same level of overall satisfaction as the university ranked at number one".