Four national rankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually – The Complete University Guide, and rankings by each of The Guardian, The Sunday Times and The Times newspapers. Rankings have also been produced in the past by The Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times.
The primary aim of the rankings is to inform potential undergraduate applicants about UK universities based on a range of criteria, including entry standards, student satisfaction, staff/student ratio, academic services and facilities expenditure per student, research quality, proportion of Firsts and 2:1s, completion rates and student destinations. All of the league tables also rank universities on their strength in individual subjects.
The following rankings of British universities are produced annually:
The Complete University Guide is compiled by Mayfield University Consultants (which had previously compiled university rankings for The Times). It was published for the first time in The Daily Telegraph in 2007, when it was known as The Good University Guide, and was produced in association with The Independent from 2008 to 2011.
The ranking uses nine criteria, with a statistical technique called the Z-transformation applied to the results of each. The nine Z-scores are then weighted (by 1.5 for student satisfaction and research assessment, and 1.0 for the rest) and summed to give a total score for each university. These total scores are then transformed to a scale where the top score is set at 1,000, with the remainder being a proportion of the top score. The nine criteria are:
The most recent league table (2014) ranked the top 30 British universities as follows:
| Rank (1-10) | University | Rank (11-20) | University | Rank (21-30) | University |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Cambridge | 11 | University of Lancaster | =20 | University of Southampton |
| 2 | University of Oxford | 12 | University of York | 22 | University of Newcastle |
| 3 | London School of Economics | 13 | University of Surrey | 23 | University of Glasgow |
| 4 | Imperial College London | 14 | Loughborough University | 24 | University of Nottingham |
| 5 | Durham University | 15 | University of Bristol | 25 | University of Manchester |
| 6 | University of St Andrews | 16 | University of Leicester | 26 | University of Sheffield |
| 7 | University College London | 17 | University of Birmingham | 27 | University of Aston |
| 8 | University of Warwick | 18 | University of Edinburgh | 28 | University of Kent |
| 9 | University of Bath | 19 | King's College London | 29 | Queen's University Belfast |
| 10 | University of Exeter | =20 | University of East Anglia | 30 | Royal Holloway London |
The Guardian's ranking uses eight different criteria, each weighted between 5 and 17 per cent. Unlike other annual rankings of British universities, the criteria do not include a measure of research output. A "value-added" factor is included which compares students' degree results with their entry qualifications, described by the newspaper as being "[b]ased upon a sophisticated indexing methodology that tracks students from enrolment to graduation, qualifications upon entry are compared with the award that a student receives at the end of their studies". The eight criteria are:
The most recent league table (2013) ranked the top 30 British universities as follows:
| Rank (1-10) | University | Rank (11-20) | University | Rank (21-30) | University |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Cambridge | 11 | Loughborough University | 21 | City University London |
| 2 | University of Oxford | 12 | University of Surrey | =22 | University of Kent |
| 3 | London School of Economics | 13 | Imperial College London | =22 | University of Southampton |
| 4 | University of St Andrews | 14 | University of Glasgow | 24 | University of East Anglia |
| 5 | University of Warwick | 15 | University of Edinburgh | 25 | University of Reading |
| 6 | University College London | 16 | University of Buckingham | 26 | University of Nottingham |
| =7 | Durham University | 17 | University of York | =27 | Aston University |
| =7 | University of Lancaster | 18 | University of Bristol | =27 | University of Sussex |
| 9 | University of Bath | 19 | University of Leicester | 29 | SOAS |
| 10 | University of Exeter | 20 | Heriot-Watt University | 30 | University of Birmingham |
The Sunday Times university league table ranks institutions using the following eight criteria:
The most recent league table (2013) ranked the top 30 British universities as follows:
| Rank (1-10) | University | Rank (11-20) | University | Rank (21-30) | University |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Cambridge | 11 | University of Bristol | 21 | University of Surrey |
| 2 | University of Oxford | 12 | Loughborough University | =22 | University of Southampton |
| 3 | University of Bath | =13 | University of Birmingham | =22 | University of Nottingham |
| 4 | Durham University | =13 | University College London | 24 | University of Strathclyde |
| 5 | University of St Andrews | 15 | University of York | 25 | University of Leicester |
| 6 | London School of Economics | 16 | Lancaster University | =26 | Queen's University Belfast |
| 7 | University of Exeter | 17 | Newcastle University | =26 | University of Leeds |
| 8 | Imperial College London | 18 | University of Sheffield | 28 | University of Kent |
| 9 | Heriot-Watt University | =19 | University of Glasgow | 29 | Keele University |
| 10 | University of Warwick | =19 | Cardiff University | =30 | King's College London |
The Times university rankings take into account eight criteria. The Student Satisfaction and Research criteria are weighted by 1.5 and then each of the eight criteria scores are multiplied by 10 in order to give each university a final score out of 1,000. The criteria are:
It has been commented by The Sunday Times that a number of universities which regularly feature in the top ten of British university league tables, such as Durham, St Andrews and LSE (in the case of LSE 2nd to 4th nationally whilst only 47th / 29th in the THES World ranking), "inhabit surprisingly low ranks in the worldwide tables", whilst other universities such as Manchester and Birmingham, "that failed to do well in the domestic rankings have shone much brighter on the international stage". The considerable disparity in rankings has been attributed to the different methodology and purpose of global university rankings such as the Academic Ranking of World Universities, QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education World University Rankings. International university rankings primarily use criteria such as academic and employer surveys, the number of citations per faculty, the proportion of international staff and students and faculty and alumni prize winners. The national rankings, on the other hand, give most weighting to the undergraduate student experience, taking account of teaching quality and learning resources, together with the academic quality of a university's intake, graduate employment, research quality and dropout rates.
UK university rankings have been subject to various criticisms.
There has been criticism of attempts to combine different rankings on for example research quality, quality of teaching, drop out rates and student satisfaction. Sir Alan Wilson, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Leeds argues that the final average has little significance and is like trying to 'combine apples and oranges.' Other criticisms he made included the varying weights given to different factors, the need for universities to 'chase' the rankings, the often fluctuating nature of a university's ranking, and the catch-22 that the government's desire to increase access can have negative effects on league table rankings.
The Guardian suggests that league tables may affect the nature of undergraduate admissions in an attempt to improve a university's league table position.
Roger Brown, the former Vice Chancellor of Southampton Solent University argues the limitations of comparative data when comparing Universities.
Professor Geoffrey Alderman writing in the Guardian makes the point that by including the percentage of 'good honours' this can encourage grade inflation so that league table position can be maintained.
The rankings are also criticised for not giving a full picture of higher education in the United Kingdom. There are institutions which focus on research and enjoy a prestigious reputation but are not shown in the table for various reasons. For example, the Institute of Education, University of London, is not usually listed in the undergraduate rankings despite the fact that it offers an undergraduate B.Ed and is generally recognised as one of the best institutions offering teacher training and Education studies (for example, being given joint first place, alongside Oxford University, in the 2008 Research Assessment 'Education' subject rankings, according to both Times Higher Education and the Guardian).
League Tables, which usually focus on the full-time undergraduate student experience, commonly omit reference to Birkbeck, University of London, and the Open University, both of which specialise in teaching part-time students. These universities, however, often make a strong showing in specialist league tables looking at research, teaching quality, and student satisfaction. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, according to the Times Higher Education, Birkbeck was placed equal 33rd, and the Open University 43rd, out of 132 institutions. And the 2009 student satisfaction survey placed the Open University 3rd and Birkbeck 13th out of 153 universities and higher education institutions (1st and 6th, respectively, among multi-faculty universities).
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