The University of Manchester has come 8th in the country in the University Quality of Student Life Survey by Lloyds Bank.
Of the 91 institutions studied, the top three universities were Durham, Loughborough and Cambridge.
Manchester led the way in the number of pubs and clubs in a university city, with nearly 250 different establishments to choose from, but the highest satisfaction with their social lives was reported by students in Sheffield and Newcastle.
Factors such as course satisfaction, graduate employment, crime rates, social life, sporting facilities and living standards were taken into account.
The University of Durham not only had above average course satisfaction, with nine in ten students happy with their degrees, it also ranked as having the lowest crime rate in a university town, with just 0.88 incidents reported per 1000 residents.
The survey also showed up discrepancies in graduate salaries, with up to £10,000 difference between graduates from higher and lower ranking universities.
The average salary for students leaving university currently stands at around £21,000. However, students at the London School of Economics had an average salary of £27,388 after six months, whilst those at Cardiff Metropolitan University can expect an average of £17,118.
Nitesh Patel, an economist at Lloyds Bank, said: “The top ten universities for the best quality of student life are a mix of the old, such as Oxford and Cambridge, and the relatively new such as Newcastle and Bath.
“They all score well on course satisfaction, good employment prospects and high salaries.
“Many of them are also rated highly for a good social life, particularly in the provincial cities in the north.”
