簡介：The demand for places on planning courses fell alarmingly during and after the last recession and, following a marginal rise in applications in 2011, there was another big drop in 2012. Even landscape and garden design, which had escaped the decline until then, saw applications drop by almost 20 per cent. Other courses were down by 16 per cent and seemed likely to increase their traditional reliance on Clearing. There were fewer than four applications for each of the 760 places filled in 2011. Cambridge remains at the head of the planning table, with the best research grades and entry standards that are 70 points higher than the nearest challenger. Only three other universities average more than 400 points at entry, but only three drop below 250. Competition was tight in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise: Cambridge had the most work placed in the top two categories, but Sheffield – which is back in second place this year – had a higher proportion judged to be world-leading. Employment scores have recovered from a dip last year and are back in the top 20 for all subjects, having been in the top ten only three years ago. Reading again produces by far the best score on this measure. For the fifth year in a row, every graduate found high-level work or a place on a postgraduate course within six months of completing a degree. Birmingham, in fifth place, again has the most satisfied students, closely followed by Leeds Metropolitan. Cardiff, in fourth place, is the top university outside England, while Glasgow Caledonian has overtaken Dundee to become the leader in Scotland for the first time. Northumbria is the only other post-1992 university in the top ten. Unemployment is slightly above average, at 10 per cent, but 70 per cent of planners were in graduate-level jobs or still studying six months after graduating. Starting salaries in graduate-level jobs remain in the bottom half of the table, averaging just less than ￡20,000. 以下是2013年Times城鎮和農村規劃設計的排名.