Royal Agricultural University ranks in top ten in the country for student experience

The Royal Agricultural University (RAU) has been ranked in the top 10 universities in the UK for the best student experience, and was the highest-ranking university in Gloucestershire, in this year’s Sunday Times Good University Guide.

The Cirencester university, which climbed 14 places from its 2021 rating in the Guide published annually by the Sunday Times, was ranked eighth in the list of the best universities for student experience and also came in at 53= for students’ evaluation of teaching quality.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter McCaffery said:

“We are delighted to have improved our ranking in this year’s Sunday Times guide.

“Earlier in the year we achieved excellent results in the 2022 National Student Survey (NSS) with student satisfaction scores beating even those of the best-performing Russell Group universities.

“Students ranked us as the top university in the UK for being a Learning Community and fourth highest for Overall Student Satisfaction across English universities. We were also in the top 10 for both Academic Support and Organisation & Management.

 “In addition, the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF), which was published this summer, commended more than half our research as world-leading and internationally excellent, and ranked our overall research at its highest ever level which puts us firmly on the map as a world-leading specialist institution for sustainable farming and land management.

“This ranking in the Sunday Times Good University Guide is the icing on the cake in what is already an excellent year!”

The Sunday Times guide, which also ranked the RAU as the best university in Gloucestershire, beating both Hartpury and the University of Gloucestershire, and in the top eight of universities in the South West, stated:

“The Royal Agricultural University, famous for its secluded Cotswolds setting, is branching out in a big way,” and referred to the RAU’s recent partnership with the Uzbekistan Ministry of Agriculture to establish the International Agriculture University in Tashkent as well as the plans for the RAU rural innovation village.