The University of South Wales (USW) has achieved its highest-ever ranking in the Guardian University Guide 2025, with the University now placed 51st of the 122 institutions on the list.
This is a rise of 21 places in the rankings since last year, and puts USW third in Wales.
USW has seen a large rise in a number of rankings – up 41 places to 33rd for student satisfaction with teaching; and an improvement of 13 places, to 19th, for the quality of feedback and assessment from academic staff. There was also a rise of 17 places in the category focusing on the percentage of students who are in graduate-level jobs or in further study 15 months after graduating.
In a number of subjects – aerospace engineering, animation, forensic science, general nursing, and marketing – USW is top in Wales, while the University teaches nine subjects which are in the top 25 in the UK. – aerospace engineering, animation and games design, education, fashion and textiles, forensic science, health professions, law, marketing and public relations, and midwifery.
The USW subject with the highest ranking, at fifth, is health professions, while law is USW’s highest climber in the Guide, up 31 places to 19th.
Aerospace engineering is top in the UK for teaching and assessment, fashion & textiles is top in Wales for teaching, health professions is second in the UK for value added – which rates the quality of the teaching; midwifery is third in the UK for continuation – which measures the number of students continuing their degree after completing the first year – while psychology is placed 29th of the 116 courses in the UK.
Professor Donna Whitehead, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of USW, said of the ranking:
“This is an amazing achievement and shows how the hard work of colleagues across USW is paying off.
“We know that higher education is facing some challenges right now, but they’re not something we’re going to shy away from, particularly as the rankings show the high quality of our teaching and how we develop work-ready graduates.
“This could not have been achieved without commitment from colleagues across the University, and it bodes well for the future of the institution that we have colleagues who give our students what they need and expect – a high class of teaching and the opportunity to advance to a good career or further study once they have completed their studies.”
