The principal of West Suffolk College has hailed “dedicated staff and industrious students” after an impressive third placed ranking in a national league table.

The Bury St Edmunds-based Further Education (FE) college secured joint third spot in FE Week’s exclusive league table for colleges in 2018 after a dramatic jump of 17 places in two years.

The table is compiled using official performance measures from the Department for Education (DfE) and consists of 186 colleges from across the country.

West Suffolk College scored 33 points out of a possible 40 across four categories – learner satisfaction, employer satisfaction, 16-18 positive progression and adults into employment.

West Suffolk hit perfect 10 scores for learner satisfaction and employer satisfaction.

The college was alongside Barnsley College and Middlesbrough College in third on 33 points, behind Newcastle and Stafford Colleges and Weston College in joint second place on 34 points.

Petroc College in Devon was top of the table with 36 points.

Nikos Savvas, chief executive of Suffolk Academies Trust and principal of West Suffolk College, said: “I would like to thank our dedicated staff, industrious students and visionary business partners for all their incredibly hard work that has contributed to this amazing achievement.

“I have the best and most committed team of people, who care passionately about our learners during their time with us and as importantly, their onward success, I am so proud of them all.

“Thank you too to all our incredible businesses and employers, who by working closely with us are making our society better.

“The fact that we got 10 out of 10 for student and employer satisfaction is immensely gratifying.

“I am deeply proud of this achievement and on top of our outstanding results, it’s been a brilliant year for us all.”

Nick Linford, FE Week’s editor, who established the table, said: “The NICDEX was an enjoyable intellectual challenge, to create an annual performance table from a mix of measures.

“Most importantly, NICDEX is transparent. The four measures that make up the NICDEX are published by the DfE.”