University of Leeds best academic path to a media career, according to Linkedin study

Leeds topped a survey by the social media site LinkedIn to determine the best institutions for “media professionals”. Oxford came second, Cambridge seventh

(Alan Curtis / Alamy)

Despite frequent talk of an Oxbridge mafia, it turns out that the University of Leeds, alma mater of the Daily Mail editor-in-chief Paul Dacre, is the best academic path to a media career.

Leeds topped a survey by the social media site LinkedIn to determine the best institutions for “media professionals”. Oxford came second, Cambridge seventh.

The universities most frequently associated with specialist teaching in journalism did not dominate either. Cardiff, which boasts of being the UK’s “oldest and most experienced school of journalism”, came joint third with Nottingham, while media specialists Bournemouth and Westminster were 9th and 14th.

Among its journalistic alumni, Leeds claims such high-fliers as the BBC business editor, Kamal Ahmed, and his royal colleague Nicholas Witchell. Sports presenters Georgie Thompson and Jacqui Oatley also went there.

The university makes no mention, however, of the former BBC deputy director-general Mark Byford, a Leeds contemporary of Dacre’s.