Sunderland University falls in rankings but is named in the top 10 most socially inclusive universities

Although it does place lowest out of the five universities in the North East.

Low scores in student satisfaction have also seen it fall out of the top 100 in the academic rankings – falling from 93 last year to 109 in 2019.

The university does however place fourth in England and Wales for social diversity on campus.

Durham University remains top of the North East leaderboard and in seventh place overall – followed by Newcastle, Northumbria then Teesside.

The Good University Guide says: “The University of Sunderland saw a dramatic rise in enrolments last year due to the opening of their Hong Kong campus in 2017, this spike looks set to continue as it opens a new medical school.

“Ranked fifth in the Northeast, Sunderland aims to recruit 20% of their new medics from areas of low participation in higher education, more than at any other medical school in the country.

“Low scores in student satisfaction have seen Sunderland drop out of the top 100 national academic rankings, but the university ranks fourth in England and Wales for social diversity on campus.

“No university in the UK recruits more students (30.6%) from the most deprived neighbourhoods of Britain, and almost 60% of the intake have parents who did not go to university.”

Sir David Bell, Vice-Chancellor at University of Sunderland, said: “At the University of Sunderland, we have a record for attracting those with talent into higher education, regardless of background, and supporting them in reaching their potential. We are one of the most inclusive universities in the country.

“We made a commitment to extend this inclusive approach to the recruitment of student doctors in our new School of Medicine.

“We have far exceeded our initial target as 25% of our first cohort of 50 high-achieving student doctors are from a widening participation background. At the same time, we have been delighted to welcome students from all backgrounds, to study medicine in Sunderland.”

The full list will be published online at www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/gooduniversityguide on Sunday.