Two universities in Buckinghamshire have been included in The Sunday Times' Good University Guide – but where do they rank on a regional and national scale?

As university terms around the country get underway, the team at The Sunday Times are already looking ahead to 2025 – with the newspaper's respected Good University Guide hitting the stands this weekend, including a 96-page supplement combing over the pros and cons of the UK's top (and bottom) higher educational offerings.

It also measured two Buckinghamshire-based universities – The University of Buckingham and Buckinghamshire New University in High Wycombe – against their counterparts in the region and further afield, with no particularly rosy results.

The University of Buckingham, which was shortlisted for University of the Year in the 2024 guide, slipped from its previous spot of 8th in the southeast and 56th in the UK to 16th and 114th, respectively.

And Bucks New University retained its ranking of 17th out of 20 in the region, rising from 127th to 122nd in the national table out of a total 134 competitors.

Each institution was judged on student satisfaction and wellbeing, entry levels, its proportion of high-scoring grades, environmental and ethical standards and on-campus sports, among other factors, from a number of data sources.

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The University of Oxford led the southeast rankings but fell short of the nationwide number one spot, which went for the first time to the London School of Economics and Political Science, followed by the University of St Andrews in second place.

Helen Davies, editor of The Times' annual guide, described the universities at the top of the league tables as "local and global powerhouses of intellectual thought and creativity" with the capacity to "power economic regeneration and lead the way to a better life".

She also cautioned that the higher education sector was facing "unprecedented challenges" in the realms of free speech and financial stability, but urged parents and would-be students to think of university as, first and foremost, "a force for good".

The full rankings and profiles of all UK universities in the guide are available to view on The Times website now.