THE University of Bolton has defended its position in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020.

The university has been ranked 125th out of 134 in 12th out of 12 in the North West but it reports the top scores in the North West for student satisfaction.

A university spokesman said: “The University of Bolton is proud to be focused on providing the best experience for its students and we are delighted to note that we have the highest marks in the North West for the Student Experience and Teaching Quality.

"We put a tremendous amount of hard work into putting our students at the heart of everything we do and it is extremely encouraging to see that we are best in the region in those two categories.
“It is disappointing to see that Graduate Prospects in the North of England remain a limiting factor on university reputations.

“The truth is that we still don't see the same level of investment in the regional economy outside central Manchester (and London itself) which would provide much-needed graduate jobs.
“Although the data relating to graduate jobs has a severe time lag and does not accurately reflect the current position at the University of Bolton, there is also much to be said about the outdated attitudes of some more traditional employers.
" A well-publicised survey this week revealed that some firms are using a tick-box system to filter candidates via the league table position of their universities. This is preposterous and reflects a total lack of understanding of the quality of graduates today. As a result, businesses are missing out on the chance to recruit some fantastic graduates from other universities, like Bolton
“Furthermore, over the past two years the university has been implementing a series of substantive measures and we are now seeing the positive impact of those.”

The full list will be available on Sunday at www.thesundaytimes.co.uk.