Swansea named the university of the year by UK students

Swansea University's Digital Technium

Swansea University has been named the best university in Britain at the Whatuni Student Choice Awards.

In a survey of 17,500 students, the Welsh university beat the likes of Bath, Loughborough and Surrey to the top spot. It also finished runner up in the "best student union" and "best course and lecturers" categories.

Imperial College London, meanwhile, was voted best for job prospects, with the University of York number one for international students.

The north-east proved itself the best place for students to live; the University of Newcastle won the accolade of "best accommodation", while the University of Northumbria was tipped for "best city life".

The awards were handed out by TV comedian Clive Anderson in a ceremony at London’s swanky Waldorf Hilton Hotel.

Mike Elms, the founder and CEO of Hotcourses, which runs Whatuni said:

“I’d like to offer my congratulations to all universities that won or were short-listed for an award category. These awards are based on the experiences of your students and that is something for which you should be rightly proud.”

Whatuni collected nearly 18,000 reviews since January through trusted regional student ambassadors across universities UK-wide. Students gave honest ratings across nine different categories. The overall results of all categories were calculated on the average rating of all reviews for each institution. The full results of all nine awards categories can be found here.