University College Falmouth ascends 21 places in this year's Guardian University Guide

University College Falmouth (UCF) has ascended the rankings of the Guardian's influential University Guide by an impressive 21 places this year, achieving 40th position out of a total of 118 higher education institutions in the UK.

The Guide provides vital information for more than 600,000 university applicants who face the toughest ever competition for places this year.

It ranks universities according to how satisfied their final-year students are; how much each institution spends per student; the ratio of staff to students; the career prospects of graduates; and the grades that prospective students are required to achieve in order to have the chance of being offered a place.

This year, the Guardian increased the influence of the National Student Satisfaction survey in its  methodology to 25% of the total score for each institution.

In the past, UCF appeared in the Guardian's list of specialist institutions, offering fewer than four subject areas, but now ranks among the best universities in the country as a result of its merger with Dartington College of Arts and the addition of Performance courses to its growing portfolio.

UCF not only outperformed its competitors in the overall university rankings, but also achieved significant success in the Guide's subject specific tables for Art & Design, Dance, Drama & Cinematics and Media Studies & Communications, in which the University College ranked 14th, 41st and 42nd respectively.

"The Guardian University Guide is particularly important because it is the only survey that is heavily weighted towards student satisfaction," said UCF's Rector and Chief Executive, Professor Anne Carlisle.  "University College Falmouth achieved excellent results in last year's National Student Satisfaction survey and this is reflected in our performance in this year's Guide.  To have risen by 21 places is testament to the quality and breadth of UCF's specialist offer in Art, Design, Media and Performance, and our unyielding determination to prepare graduates for success in the creative industries as we progress towards the attainment of Arts University Cornwall by 2013."

To view the original Guardian league table, please visit: www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2010

For further information about UCF's league table results visit: www.falmouth.ac.uk/leaguetables

For further information about University College Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 213730.

University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name.  It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.

This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing.  The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2013/2014 that will be unique to the South West.

The University College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One and Convergence), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.

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For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby Dip CIPR, MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792; or email:  jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk

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