STUDENT Laura Spence was engulfed in controversy when she was rejected by Oxford University last year. But a new league table suggests she would have been better off applying for a course closer to home.

The Times Good University Guide, which is being published in instalments this week, rates Newcastle University's medical school as the best in the country.

Laura, from Tyneside, is studying medicine at Harvard University, in the US.

Oxford University, which was her first choice, only came third in the survey of the best medicine teaching centres.

Professor Reg Jordan, director of medical studies at Newcastle, said: "Newcastle, along with other UK medical schools, offered Laura a place last year. It seems that she wanted to go to Oxford, but it is not for me to say why she made the choice."

He said of the guide's findings: "We have a long history of innovation and achievement in medical education, and we are absolutely delighted we have done so well."

Overall, the survey ranks Cambridge as the country's best university, with Oxford second. Both Durham and Newcastle improved their rankings from last year.

Durham moved up from 16th to 15th place, while Newcastle was ranked at 13 - four places higher than last year.

The table gives the universities scores according to teaching, research and the average A-Level grades of undergraduate entrants in 1999.

The results for science and medical subjects have already been published. Arts and humanities will appear later this week.

Durham and Newcastle Universities both appear regularly in the top 20, and Durham came first in the country for physics and astronomy.

Neither Durham nor Newcastle was listed in the top 20 for computer science, but the University of Teesside was placed 15th. It was also listed as one of the universities to experience the biggest rise in application numbers - 10,430, a rise of 11.6 per cent on last year.

The University of Northumbria came 13th for building, while York was third for organismal biosciences.

Sunderland University experienced one of the largest falls in applications last year. They fell by 12.3 per cent to 9,976.

The Good University Guide will be published in book form next week, and includes information about all aspects of higher education, including profiles of every university, information about accommodation and student loans.