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Students should head north for the high life, according to the Virgin Alternative Guide to British Universities.

A clutch of northern universities, including Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow, notched up 20 out of 20 in the social scene stakes, while scoring slightly lower in terms of academic excellence and graduate employment.

Although Cambridge University got the highest academic score out of the 20 institutions profiled, its social factor stood at a mere 12. Complied by Piers Dudgeon, the guide aims to show that there is more to university life than study.