This West Midlands town is one of England's 'cleverest' according to new study - see where your town ranks
A new study has ranked towns and cities across the West Midlands according to how clever it believes its residents are - see where your neighbourhood ranks
Stafford is the fifth-most educated major town in England, according to a new study, outperforming the more traditional seats of learning such as York.
Wolverhampton also made the top half of the table, in 28th place, but it wasn't such good news for the rest of the region, with many major towns putting in mediocre performances - including Stafford's county rival Stoke-on-Trent, propping up the table in 60th place.
The study, commissioned by computer software company Unit 4, rated Cambridge as the most educated city in the country, with arch-rival Oxford coming third.
But a few eyebrows might be raised to see Oxford ranked below second-placed Slough, which was famously ridiculed in a poem by Sir John Betjeman. Reading, also not known as a traditional seat of learning, takes fourth place.
Researchers looked at 60 major towns and cities across England, ranking them for seven different metrics, including the education levels of residents, the performance of schools, and how strong the culture of public knowledge was.
The biggest factor was the percentage of residents with degrees, which counted for 30 per cent of the weighting. GCSE performance in English and Maths accounted for 15 per cent of the score, as did vocational qualifications.
Access to level three qualifications, such as A-levels or equivalent, made up 10 percent, of the score, as did access to public libraries and the percentage of schools rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted. The final 10 per cent was based on the number of public lectures and academic events per 10,000 people.
Stafford was judged the brightest town in the West Midlands, benefiting from some of the best school performance in England, ranking among the very top for GCSE results and outstanding Ofsted ratings. Just over 29 per cent of the town's population held university degrees, and the town also performed well for access to community education.
Wolverhampton took 28th place, helped largely by the number of public events in the town. A total of 20.7 per cent of residents hold university degrees, and 69.9 per cent have GCSEs in maths and English. Just over 60 per cent of the population had access to level three qualifications.
Walsall, in 44th place, had one of the lowest percentages of graduates, at 18.8 per cent of the population, but did better for GCSE results with 70 per cent holding maths and English.
Dudley came in a disappointing 48th place, despite having more 'outstanding'-rated schools than its immediate neighbours, and better access to libraries. A total of 20.27 per cent of the population had university degrees, better than Walsall but slightly behind Wolverhampton. Dudley also performed slightly better than its neighbours for access to further education and the number of people with vocational qualifications, but fell down when it came to the number of public lectures and academic events.
Despite being home to five universities, Birmingham came in the bottom half of the table, but suffered by holding just 50 public events per 10,000 people.
