These are the 14 hardest universities in the UK to get into

The report is one of the most comprehensive of its kind and orders institutions based on a number of metrics, including student satisfaction, quality of research, graduate prospects and entry standards.

Its ranking of entry standards takes into account the average UCAS tariff score of new students entering the system and offers an accurate picture of how difficult it is to get into each university.

The guide's website explains: "Each student's examination results were converted to a numerical score (A level A=120, B=100 ... E=40, etc; Scottish Highers A=72, B=60, etc) and added up to give a score total. The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) then calculated an average for all students at the university. The results were then adjusted to take account of the subject mix at the university."

It's also worth noting that some universities' scores were lowered by access policies requiring acceptance of students with low grades.

Below are the universities with the highest entry standards, along with the average UCAS score of its new students in brackets.