SUNDERLAND University is the most highly rated campus in the North-East according to a major student survey.

In the 2015 Whatuni Student Choice Awards, based on the opinions of 20,000 students nationwide, Sunderland is rated 16th out of 113, a big improvement on last year’s position of 61st and well ahead all of their North-East rivals.

The results of this year’s student rankings show that the overall title of university of the year went to Loughborough University, in Leicestershire.

Durham, Newcastle and Northumbria universities all stayed in the top half of the table but slipped down the ratings with Durham dropping from 38th last year to 18th this year, Newcastle dropping from 16th last year to 36th this year and Northumbria slipping from 19th last year to 37th.

Despite the fall in ratings, Northumbria University can take some comfort after students rated it third overall for ‘city life.’

Teesside University was the lowest rated North-East university, ranking as 99th out of 113.

York University saw its standing improve on last year, moving up from 57th in 2014 to 23rd.

The Whatuni Student Rankings are based on averages taken from thousands of reviews submitted by students and cover ten categories: accommodation, city life, clubs and societies, courses and lecturers, job prospects, student union, facilities, support services, international and an overall rating which counts towards the university of the year title.

Overall, the survey suggests that general student satisfaction is up. On average, students are rating their university experience more highly than they did in 2014 but some students are not happy with their accommodation.

Of the ten categories surveyed this is the only one that saw a year-on-year drop.