The more ducks there are, the better your student days will be, claim a group of eco-friendly postgraduates.
They have carried out a survey of the nation's campuses and say the most effective way to decide on a seat of learning is to see how many ducks live nearby.
A new website, called duckdensity.org.uk, has published the results of the study, with Yorkshire flying high in the ratings.
York University tops the poll, while Leeds comes in at a highly-respectable third place. Loughborough University secured the second spot.
The website provides students with a guide to the number of moorhens, mallards, coots and other wildfowl to be found on streams, ponds and other stretches of water near their chosen university.
It is also a key guide to the amount of greenery and landscape around the campus.
A spokeswoman for York University said: "The University of York invariably does well in academic league tables despite being up against considerably larger and older institutions.
"But with the wonderful 13-acre lake on our campus, we cannot be beaten for the variety of our waterfowl. As universities go, we may be small, but for ducks and geese, we are perfectly formed."
York secured the top spot with 11.6 ducks per rood, roughly 1,011 square metres, with Loughborough second with 8.5.
Leeds came in third place with 7.0, followed by Warwick 5.8, Roehampton 5.2, Huddersfield 3.6, East Anglia 2.2, Swansea 1.1, Aberystwyth 0.1 and Birmingham 0.1.
The survey organisers, who graduated from York and Nottingham, claimed: "The ultimate mark of a university's prowess and brilliance is its duck density.
"In recognition of this fact, duckdensity.org.uk has been set up so that those who have the dilemma of where to spend the next three or four years of their life can be truly informed, and so that those who've already made the decision can have a bit of fun."
The website has also launched an appeal for volunteers to help its work.
However, York's burgeoning duck density does have its downside.
One contributor claimed that waders were a prerequisite for getting around campus by the end the summer term to avoid the growing piles of duck droppings.
Yorkshire Post Today