簡介：Music has been growing in popularity both for Honours and Foundation degrees, attracting almost 30,000 applications in 2011 – 5,000 more than in 2006. But the move to higher fees brought this expansion to an abrupt end, as applications dropped by almost 9 per cent in 2012. The number of places has kept pace with rising demand and there were little more than five applications to the place in 2011. Nine out of ten degree applicants come with A levels and most university departments expect music to be among them, although they may accept a distinction or merit in Grade 8 music exams. There is considerable variation in the character of courses, from the practical and vocational programmes in conservatoires to the more theoretical degrees in some of the older universities. Oxford remains at the head of the music ranking, despite not leading on any individual measure, but once again there has been considerable movement below it. Cambridge has replaced Bristol in second place and is the only university to average more than 500 points at entry. Birmingham has moved up six places to third, while further down the table, Aberdeen has jumped 15 places to 23rd. The Royal Academy of Music again has the best employment score, and it is noticeable that the specialist institutions do far better than even the leading university departments on this measure. While the four specialists registered positive destinations for between 85 per cent and 96 per cent of their leavers, 12 universities in the bottom half of the table fell below 50 per cent. Royal Holloway, just outside the top ten overall, had the best grades in a high-scoring set of research assessments, with no less than 90 per cent of its research considered world-leading or internationally excellent. Bristol, although down to fourth place, still has the most satisfied students. Huddersfield remains the top post-1992 university and the only one in the top 30. As in most subjects, the new universities suffer for their lower entry grades, although selection is more a matter of musical ability than academic achievement. The 9 per cent unemployment rate in the latest survey remains no worse than the average for all subjects, despite the fact that career prospects for musicians are notoriously uncertain. Music finishes in the bottom half of the employment table because nearly 30 per cent of leavers were in non-graduate occupations six months after graduation. Salaries in those jobs were the lowest for any subject at the time of the latest survey, while the average in graduate-level employment was just outside the bottom ten, at less than ￡18,500.以下是2013年Times音樂排名。