The mid-table universities seem to be taking a different approach from those at the bottom.
This ends up being yet another league table, where universities are competing for employment rates or salary figures.
Students eligible for a government-backed loan will be able to borrow up to £12,000 over the two years.The Guardian University Guide 2013 league table of universities is published today.
Another £9ker shows its hand today: Essex (43rd in the Guardian's league table of universities) has announced it's going to charge the maximum in tuition fees.
Coventry University has nudged past many of its Russell Group peers to reach the highest position ever achieved by a former polytechnic in the Guardian league table of universities.
The change was called for by a government inquiry headed by former Vice-Chancellor Steven Schwartz a decade ago but disappeared from the table when universities and schools could not agree to the changes necessary to the education calendar to implement it.
As in Table 2, universities are sorted primarily by the number of researchers they have hired and secondly by the number of indications received by these researchers.
In second place in this league table of university searches is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - last week ranked as the world's best university and also an institution with a strong record for pioneering online courses.
League-table topping universities compete to scoop up some of these sought-after applicants.
Other tables rate universities according to how good their research is.
In this year's animation league table, Monsters University (£26.3m) is now just behind The Croods (£26.4m) and ahead of Wreck-It Ralph (£23.8m).
