BANGOR University has been placed joint 63rd out of 132 UK institutions in the latest rankings of a highly-respected guide.

And although that is a fall of eight places from last year, the university is ranked 19th for teaching quality in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019.

Bangor's world ranking has risen from 441st to 435th.

The university is also rated 21st for student experience. The guide, published today, says, however: "Bangor has always benefited from levels of student satisfaction that are among the highest in Wales and this year close to the top 20 in the UK.

"But its National Student Survey (NSS) scores have been higher in the past; the fall has contributed to a dip in its overall ranking."

The guide continues: "The NSS successes were the prime reason Bangor was the only university in Wales to achieve a gold award in the first round of the Teaching Excellence Framework.

"The [assessment] panel commented favourably on the personalised support for students and strategic approach to assessment, as well as the very good physical and virtual learning resources.

"Welsh/English bilingual learning was another area to attract praise.

Bangor also opened a £20 million science park on Anglesey this year, bringing together businesses from the ICT, science and research sectors with staff and students from the university.

"There is outline planning consent for more building, which could include a £100m thermal and hydraulic testing facility.

"The highly-rated School of Ocean Sciences is located just across the Menai Straits, but the other 22 academic schools are all within walking distance."

The guide's latest annual figures show 88.2 per cent of Bangor students (47th in the UK table) completed their courses and 69.3 per cent (92nd) gained a first or upper second class degree.

Meanwhile, the university was rated 48th for research quality and 111th for graduate prospects.

The guide also reveals that 89.3 per cent of Bangor University admissions are from state schools (non-grammar), 7.7 per cent from ethnic minorities. 9.3 per cent are disabled and 22.7 per cent are mature students.

A total of 4.5 per cent of students are from the EU, with 16.7 per cent from other overseas countries.