The University of Bath is no longer the top university in the south west, according to The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide.
It has dropped one place in the national rankings to 13th, while the University of Exeter in Devon rises from 14th to 12th.
But there is good news for Bath graduates, who are more employable than many others in the UK.
Seven out of every eight students find themselves a professional graduate-level job or go into further study within six months of leaving Bath - a rate bettered by just four universities nationally.
We run through the rankings in the national newspaper's guide below:
The University of Bath
As mentioned above, studying at Bath apparently stands you in good stead for getting a decent career.
The university is in the top five for graduate prospects with almost two-thirds of undergraduates taking a work placement or period of study abroad as part of their degree, which might help after graduation.
Other factors taken into account by The Times include construction and plans for new facilities.
The university has opened new buildings and some are still under construction on campus.
The Milner Centre for Evolution is an £8.5m research development for the evolutionary sciences which officially opened today (September 21); a £34.5m residential venture will add almost 300 places in future; and the Sports Training Village is being expanded.
A BSc in sport, management and coaching is also being planned for 2019.
The new School of Management building is also being built.
The University of Bristol
The University of Bristol has moved down three places nationally but retains third spot in the south west region.
Bristol is attempting to diversify its intake by reducing its standard offer for English and History by a grade and trimming the GCSE demands for medicine.
Applicants from schools or districts with below-average progression to higher education may receive offers two grades below the subject norm.
The reason the university slipped in the rankings is largely linked to the National Student Survey.
Its scores for student satisfaction with teaching quality and their wider student experience were both outside of the top 100 in the UK.
The University of Exeter
More than 6,000 students enrolled at the Devon university last September and since higher fees came in back in 2015, the university has increased its annual intake by 1,500 students each year.
The university has one of the highest numbers of student volunteers at any UK institution.
All students are offered tuition in foreign languages and career management skills are built in as well.
The university also boasts a course completion rate of 95.4 per cent, which ranks 9th in the country.
The Arts University Bournemouth
This Dorset university is again ranked 51st in the national table.
It remains the highest-ranked modern university in the south west region and has one of the best employment records of any specialist arts universities.
Four in five students find professional work or go into further study within six months of leaving.
Its triumphs in the job market has helped the institution to win a gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), a government assessment of the quality of undergraduate teaching in universities and other higher education providers in England.
The accolades continued in 2018, with a Queen’s Anniversary prize for “distinguished degree-level education in costume design for the UK’s leading creative industries”.
The citation noted the role of AUB alumni in Oscar-nominated films, along with TV productions such as Downton Abbey, while Ofsted rated its foundation diploma courses as outstanding.
The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019 will be published in full on Sunday, September 23.
It contains full profiles of all universities.
The league table is put together by analysing nine indicators including student satisfaction with teaching quality and their wider student experience, research quality, graduate prospects, entrance qualifications held by new students, degree results achieved, student/staff ratios, service and facilities spend, and degree completion rates.
Got another local news story? Or a view on the University of Bath? Email liam.trim@reachplc.com.
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