Liverpool Hope University is in the top three UK institutions when it comes to the teaching of Theology and Religious Studies, according to a major new league table.
The Guardian newspaper’s annual University Guide has been released this month.
It ranks universities on their teaching, how highly current students rate their course, and which universities provide the best chance of getting a job.
And Hope has placed third in the run-down for its Theology and Religious Studies offering, behind only Cambridge, in first place, and Oxford in second.
The Guardian’s assessors credited Hope with a score of 88.4 out of 100, while an impressive 95.4 per cent of students said they were satisfied with the teaching.
Meanwhile Hope placed above a series of other red-brick universities, including Durham, Edinburgh, Manchester and Leeds.
Associate Professor Peter McGrail, head of Theology, Philosophy and Religious Studies at Hope, said: “When you drill down into the data, it becomes clear that the score reflects the success not only of our Theology and Religious Studies courses, but also our programmes in Philosophy and Ethics – so I wish to congratulate colleagues from across our subject area.
“The matrices that give me greatest satisfaction are those relating to the students’ overall satisfaction with their course, (93%) with the quality of the teaching they had received (95%) and with the feedback that their tutors have given to them (88%).
“These figures speak volumes about the hard work of our students, and the dedication of our academics.”
To arrive at the ratings, the Guardian uses data from National Student Survey (NSS) and also takes account of class sizes, student-to-staff ratios, whether their academic performance improves at university, and how likely they’ll be to continue with their course.
This year the Guardian has also based its analysis on data concerning how many students get graduate jobs or go on to further study 15 months after leaving university.
To study Theology at Hope as an undergraduate it needs to be as a combined course - with a host of combinations to choose from, including Law as well as Media & Communications.
Hope also offers a distinct Theology & Religious Studies degree, which sees students investigate the rich history and diversity of human religious experience while gaining a valuable understanding of the perspectives of others.
This, the course leaders say, gives students the essential ability to learn from others and to enter into crucial conversations which affect the future of us all.
Hope’s Theology offering, meanwhile, provides the opportunity to study Christianity from a number of perspectives – historical, doctrinal, pastoral and contextual.
To find out more about the courses on offer, head here.