HUDDERSFIELD University has climbed a league table.
It now ranks 86th among 119 British universities, compared with last year's placing of 93 in the Sunday Times league.
But the newspaper says dropout rates at the university have risen 2%.
Cambridge is rated Britain's top university, with Oxford second.
Then come three of London's establishments, followed by York, Warwick, Bristol, Nottingham and St Andrews.
Universities and institutes in North- East Wales, Newport, Paisley, Gloucestershire and four more London establishments were rated worst.
Figures on all sorts of factors, including student/staff ratio, competition for places, research standing, prospects for leavers, sport and other facilities, were collated.
Figures showed Huddersfield had 9,600 undergraduates, 1,030 postgraduates and a 19.5 to 1 student/staff ratio.
Some 97% of students came from state school backgrounds, 27% were mature students and a fifth came through clearing.
A total of 45.1% of students got firsts or 2:1s.
The Sunday Times commented: "Applications have risen 13% this year, equivalent to 2,000 students."
It continues: "Huddersfield is one of the biggest providers of sandwich courses in the UK, links with business and industry are strong and graduate employment rates are good.
"The entrepreneurial spirit burns brightly. The Huddersfield Business Generator has helped 80 businesses get off the ground since the unit was established early in 2003, with about half the companies set up by Huddersfield graduates."
The university also impressed assessors with its attractive mill conversions. Assessors said low living costs and a vibrant social scene made the town a good place to be a student.
They said high dropout rates went hand in hand with Huddersfield's recruitment of students from areas of "low levels of participation in higher education."
Courses rated "excellent" included education, engineering, geography, history, music, nursing and politics.
