The University of Bath has risen to fifth place in the prestigious Sunday Times rankings, making it the Sunday Times University of the Year 2011/12.

The Dean of the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences Professor Roger Eatwell says, "Whilst Bath is traditionally associated with science & engineering subjects, our students represent some of the UK’s best social scientists and humanities students. They’re engaged in a wide range of fascinating subject areas – from economics, psychology, politics and sociology to sports science, education and languages.

He continues, “A majority of our students within the Faculty engage in a professional placement during the third year of their studies. Many of our students work with prestigious organisations across the UK and we have psychology undergraduates studying in Harvard, sports scientists in Australia, economists in the financial heart of London and language and politics students in Brussels. This is enormously beneficial to students when they graduate, and is reflected in Bath’s above average graduate employment levels, partly explaining our rise in the Sunday Times ranking.”

The University of Bath’s new position is a reflection of the Sunday Times’ emphasis on student satisfaction with teaching quality, academic support, assessment and feedback. This is measured using the annual NSS (National Student Survey) results.

All departments within the Faculty of Humankind and Social Sciences received very strong results in this year’s NSS. Associate Dean for Learning & Teaching, Dr Peter Lambert, explains, “The majority of our departments are ranked in the top ten nationally for overall NSS results and this year we've had our best ever results in some of our most popular subject areas, including Economics, Politics, Psychology and Sociology.”

The Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences represents the Departments of Economics; Education; Health; Politics, Languages & International Studies; Psychology and Social & Policy Sciences. This Faculty supports the largest student intake across the University of Bath, with over 3,000 of Bath’s 10,000 undergraduates, 1,500 postgraduates and 350 research students.

Find out more about the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Bath.

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Content added on 19th December 2011.

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