Climbing one place to 11th, Professor Roger Jones, Head of Department said: “This improvement reflects our commitment to engaging teaching, a rewarding student experience and excellent career prospects, and combined with our ranking as 2nd in the Guardian University Guide shows that Lancaster continues to be a great place to study physics. With innovations like the successful industrial group projects and our large portfolio of exciting advanced modules and research projects, we can continue to offer a broad range of options tailored to the interests of each student.”

Overall, Lancaster University is ranked ninth for the second year in a row.

The table is based on ten measures: student satisfaction, research quality, research intensity, entry standards, student: staff ratio, spending on academic services, spending on student facilities, good honours degrees achieved, graduate prospects and completion.

With a reputation for high quality teaching driven by outstanding research, the Physics Department provides engaging and varied degrees with excellent academic support, exciting advanced modules and projects, an open-door policy and a favourable staff-to-student ratio, and this is reflected in the excellent scores obtained in the Complete University Guide league tables.