Lancaster University named International University of the Year by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020

Two years after winning the overall University of the Year title, Lancaster finds itself in the winner’s enclosure once more, this time for its role in promoting British higher education abroad and for the opportunities it provides overseas for its own students.

It remains in the top spot in the Northwest, and is now a regular presence in the UK top 10, this year slipping two places to rank a still outstanding eighth.

Since 2013, Lancaster has invested over £170m into campus improvements, and with a planned £250m spend over the next five years, it ranks fifth overall for spending on facilities and services.

Despite a decrease in student satisfaction with teaching quality and the wider student experience, the university has a gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework.

The university last year saw a fourth successive increase in new enrolments.

Alastair McCall, editor of The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide, said: “Few universities can match Lancaster's record for exporting British higher education to the world, while at the same time offering opportunities to their UK-based students to incorporate a global learning experience within their degree programmes.

"Our International University of the Year award is designed to recognise both achievements and Lancaster stood out in a crowded marketplace.

“It is the only British university to have a presence in sub-Saharan Africa, having opened a campus in Ghana, and there is a joint institute in China with Beijing Jiaotong University.

"And now there is a new campus in Leipzig, Germany.

"All are helping to establish Lancaster - now a regular in our UK top 10 - as a truly global player.

“Heading in the opposite direction, hundreds of Lancaster students undertake part of their courses in America, Asia, Australia or Europe, making use of one of the most extensive programmes of university partnerships anywhere in British higher education,” McCall said.

Lancaster University’s vice-chancellor Professor Mark E. Smith said: “I’m delighted that the hard work of our staff and students has been recognised as Lancaster has always considered itself truly international in everything we do. 

"This outlook influences our world class research and teaching, enriches our students’ experience and extends our community with global staff and alumni from 100 different countries.

“Lancaster is constantly developing partnerships across the world to ensure it delivers teaching that takes students to the frontiers of knowledge and produces graduates who can compete in a global job market.

"We currently have partnerships with leading universities and institutions in 24 countries around the world and we are very proud of our successful overseas campuses in Malaysia, China and Ghana and this year launched in Leipzig, Germany - our first in mainland Europe.

The University of Manchester lands a second prestigious title for the region, winning the University of the Year for Graduate Employment title after a recent survey showed its students to be the most sought after in the country among leading graduate employers.

The new edition of The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020, a free 96-page supplement will be published this weekend in The Sunday Times (September 22).

It provides the definitive rankings for UK universities and the most comprehensive overview of higher education in Britain.

It includes profiles on 134 universities and the definitive UK university rankings, making use of the latest data published in the past two months. A fully searchable website with university profiles and 67 subject tables will be published at www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/gooduniversityguide on Sunday for subscribers to The Times and The Sunday Times.

LOOK IT UP: thesundaytimes.co.uk/gooduniversityguide Top universities in the Northwest

1.Lancaster 2.Manchester 3. Liverpool 4. Edge Hill 5. Liverpool Hope

6. Manchester Metropolitan 7. Central Lancashire 8. Liverpool John Moores 9. Chester 10. Salford 11. Cumbria 12. Bolton Readers can also join in the conversation online by using the hashtag #GoodUniGuide