University ranking season is upon us once again — this week saw the publication of the Guardian University Guide 2014. In the Computer Sciences and IT category, there has been significant movement in the top 10, especially comparing against the 2013 table:
| Ranking | 2013 | ||
| 1. | ↑ | University of Birmingham | (7th) |
| 2. | ↑ | University of Glasgow | (8th) |
| 3. | ↑ | Imperial College London | (4th) |
| 4. | ↑ | University of Bristol | (5th) |
| 5. | ↓ | University of Southampton | (3rd) |
| 6. | ↑ | University of Sheffield | (10th) |
| 7. | ↑ | University of Bath | (11th) |
| 8. | ↓ | University of Cambridge | (1st) |
| 9. | ↑ | UCL | (18th) |
| 10. | ↑ | University of Warwick | (13th) |
| (full table) |
As always, of particular interest to me were the Welsh rankings:
| Ranking | 2013 | ||
| 28. | ↑ | Cardiff University | (29th) |
| 28. | ↓ | Swansea University | (27th) |
| 58. | ↑ | Aberystwyth University | (68th) |
| 73. | ↓ | Bangor University | (33rd) |
| 88. | ↓ | Cardiff Metropolitan University | (64th) |
| 99. | ↑ | Glyndŵr University | (101st) |
(N.B. no data was available for the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and the recently formed University of South Wales)
Looking at the table headings and the methodology, research does not feature as one of the ranking metrics, while student satisfaction (in particular, indicators from the National Student Survey) features highly; as you can see from last year’s university guides, the different metrics and weightings can change the ordering somewhat.
Digital, Data & Policy 
Hi Tom, so an interesting question is, why do the rankings change so much from year to year? Is this what we would expect to happen?
Hi Tom. Any idea why Bangor is in twice?!
Whoops, copy and paste table error (now fixed) — thanks Hannah.