Which universities have the best graduates?

This really depends on your definition of "best". What has been your experience with certain universities to date? What skill set are you looking for? Do you offer a relocation package? With over 100 institutions in the UK you may not want to restrict your choices too early and risk excluding talented students and graduates. But where do you start? If you are looking for a general guide there are several University league tables produced annually by The Complete University Guide, The Guardian and jointly by The Times and The Sunday Times. Rankings have also been produced in the past by The Daily Telegraph and Financial Times.

UK Universities
If we look at The Times/The Sunday Times university league table, known as the Good University Guide they use the following criteria.

1. Student Satisfaction – this score is calculated using the results of National Student Surveys (NSS).
2. Teaching Excellence – this score includes academic standards in teaching and learning, student progression and learning resources.
3. Heads'/Peer Assessments – school heads are asked to identify the highest-quality undergraduate provision.
4. Research Quality– based upon the most recent Research Assessment Exercise by HEFCE.
5. A-level/Higher points – nationally audited data for the subsequent academic year are provided by HESA.
6. Graduate Unemployment – the number of students assume to be unemployed six months after graduation.

By Degree
You may want to dive deeper into the data and actually consider the degree course. The Complete University Guide provide rankings by course for all UK Universities.

International Universities
If you’d like to recruit from abroad there is also the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which provide the definitive list of the world's best universities, evaluated across teaching, research, international outlook, reputation and more.

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