Sunday Times Ranks St Mary’s top University in London for Theology and Religious Studies

St Mary’s University, Twickenham’s position alongside the UK’s most esteemed academic institutions has been confirmed by the latest edition of the Sunday Times Good Universities Guide, which described it as the top place to study Theology in London and among the best for Education. The well-respected annual survey, which came out last week, put St Mary’s in the top 20 nationally for Theology and Religious Studies, with its courses coming 18th out of a total of 37 and sitting above those on offer at Kings College London, Roehampton and SOAS. Less than a year after gaining university status, St Mary’s is already first among this country’s Catholic universities and ahead of three long-established Russell Group universities. Among the Cathedrals Group of universities, only Cumbria scored higher. And in a vote of confidence, despite being a new joiner to the Sunday Times’ charts – in fact the only new university established since the last time the guide came out - St Mary’s has stormed ahead to become second among the universities set up after 1992. The authors of the guide commended St Mary’s’ numerous outreach schemes, designed to encourage a diverse student body, noting in particular the success of the E-mentoring scheme, which is now a year old. The guide also highlighted the University’s strong tradition in sport, pointing to the Mo Farah Academy, established by the Olympic medallist and St Mary’s alumnus as an example of the University’s unique offering. Emphasising that the University is continuing to develop in order to serve the needs of the student body, the authors drew attention to desirable new facilities, including the upgraded student media production facility that has just opened, and the new library due to open from next September. Placed 100th overall, St Mary’s scored particularly strongly for education, coming 28th out of 73 and second to only Brunel in the capital. Other high scores for student satisfaction came for the History and the English courses, which scored 77th and 79th respectively. And in welcome news for current students, St Mary’s scored in 69th place for graduate prospects out of the 123 institutions surveyed. With such a good ranking secured in under 12 months and at a time of momentous transition, St Mary’s will be looking ahead to further good news in a year’s time when the next Good Universities Guide is published.