University of the Year 2027: Birmingham takes top honor

The University of Birmingham has been crowned the Daily Mail’s University of the Year.

It beat 127 rivals thanks to its strong all-round performance on a dozen key metrics.

While the average graduate earned £31,400 a year, almost four in five students went into highly skilled jobs – highlighting the university’s strength in engineering, medicine and business.

The award is part of the Daily Mail University Guide 2027, published online today. A print edition of the guide will be included free with the Mail on Sunday tomorrow.

Imperial College finished top of the Daily Mail’s university rankings – which are separate from the University of the Year award – beating Oxford and Cambridge for the fourth consecutive year, with the highest average starting salaries (£39,000) of any university.

The findings expose a widening gap between the UK’s top universities, with dramatic differences in graduate job prospects, earnings, student support and dropout rates.

The fourth edition of the definitive Daily Mail guide is likely to prove essential reading for school leavers heading to university next year, with registrations opening this week.

It comes amid growing concerns about the value for money offered by degrees at some universities, as well as difficult labor market conditions for graduates.

The guide’s rankings are based on the issues that matter most to today’s students and are the only university rankings to include three separate measures of graduate employment, assessing both job market success and average starting salaries.

Birmingham’s success as University of the Year was supported by student views and success in the job market.

It was the most successful of the 24 Russell Group universities in this year’s National Student Survey, as voted for by students.

Professor Adam Tickell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham said: ‘Our focus on skills, employability and student success helps students thrive throughout university and beyond.

‘The award recognizes Birmingham as a progressive university committed to creating opportunity, advancing knowledge and making a positive difference locally, nationally and globally.’

Elsewhere, Worcester took the title of University of the Year for Graduate Jobs award, with 79.8 per cent of graduates in highly skilled jobs within 15 months of leaving – more than 17 of Russell Group universities.

Staffordshire, our Modern University of the Year, is the highest ranked of the universities established since 1992. The university was named University of the Year at the Graduate Futures Institute’s academic employability awards earlier this year in recognition of its success in getting students into top jobs.