BOLTON is bottom of a list ranking the North West's universities. 

The University of Bolton has been named 12th in the region according to The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2016. 

Professor George Holmes, the university's vice-chancellor, has slammed the list, calling it "social discrimination at its worst".

The university is ranked as 123rd overall in the guide, down three places on last year, which is published in full in The Sunday Times.

The table is based on student surveys about teaching excellence, student experience, the percentage of respondents in professional jobs or graduate-level study and course completion rate

Prof Holmes said: "League tables are designed by newspapers to sell copy and sensationalise a very serious business which affects the life and prospects of hundreds of thousands of students each year. 

"The league tables are unofficial and have no authority or status and are determined by criteria designed to suit those who the press wish to see at the top. 

"They are value driven and often discriminate against modern universities and their students. It is simply social discrimination at its worst. 

"What we are focused on at Bolton is the student teaching experience and their satisfaction with that experience. 

"We have tens of thousands of satisfied graduates and, out of the 12 institutions ranked erroneously by the Times, we are fifth for student perceptions of teaching excellence. 

"This reinforces our teaching intensive mission to meet the differentiated needs of our students.

"Our students choose Bolton not because of its research ratings which are excellent but because it is a modern university with close links to employment sectors. 

"We are proud of our town, we are proud of our university and we are exceptionally proud of our students and graduates. 

"If only the press could stop their obsession with creating a hierarchy out of diversity."

In a 2015 national student survey, Bolton University scored 81.6% for teaching excellence, 80.8% for student experience, 60.1% for graduate prospects — the percentage in professional jobs or graduate-level study — and 71.2% course completion rate. 

Top of the list is Lancaster University, followed by Manchester, Liverpool, Edge Hill and Liverpool John Moores.

In sixth to 11th place are Manchester Metropolitan University, Liverpool Hope, Chester, Central Lancashire, Salford and Cumbria. 

Manchester remains the most popular university in the country in terms of total applications. It also attracts more international students than any other UK university, drawn from 154 countries.

The full guide contains profiles of all universities and leading colleges of higher education. 

The league table is made up of nine indicators including student satisfaction with teaching quality and their wider university 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. 

Publishers say it provides students and their parents with an invaluable first reference point on the path to finding a university place.