| Russell Group | |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1994 |
| Type | Association of UK universities |
| Location | United Kingdom |
| Membership | 20 |
| Key people | Dr Wendy Piatt (Director General) Professor Michael Arthur (Chairman) |
| Website | www.russellgroup.ac.uk |
The Russell Group is a collaboration of twenty UK universities that together receive two-thirds of research grant and contract funding in the United Kingdom.[1] It was established in 1994 to represent their interests to the government, parliament and other similar bodies. The Russell Group contains many of the United Kingdom's leading universities; 18 of its 20 members are in the top 20 in terms of research funding.[2] Nineteen smaller research universities formed the 1994 Group in response.
In May 2004, Russell Group universities accounted for 65% (over £1.8 billion) of UK universities' research grant and contract income, 56% of all doctorates awarded in the United Kingdom, and over 30% of all students studying in the United Kingdom from outside the EU.[1] In the 2001 national Research Assessment Exercise, 78% of the staff in Grade 5* departments and 57% of the staff in Grade 5 departments were located in Russell Group universities,[1] and in 2004/5 Russell Group universities were allocated approximately 64% of the total quality-related research funding (QR) allocated by the Funding Councils.[1]
Obtaining a place at a Russell Group university is, very often, a competitive process. The 20 universities take in approximately 75,000 new first-year students each year. In the academic year 2008-09, about 8 people applied per available place in Russell Group institutions.
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The Russell Group is so named because the first informal meetings of the Group took place at the Russell Hotel in Russell Square, London, generally shortly before meetings of Universities UK (formerly known as Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals, or CVCP) in Tavistock Square.
Sixteen members are from England, two from Scotland, one from Wales and one from Northern Ireland. The current membership of the Group is:[1]
The Russell Group states[1] that its objectives are to:
It works towards these objectives by lobbying the UK government and parliament by commissioning reports and research, creating a forum in which the universities can discuss issues of common concern and identify ways to work together.
The group is chaired by Professor Michael Arthur, Vice Chancellor of University of Leeds. Dr Wendy Piatt was appointed in January 2007 as Director General. Formerly, she worked as Deputy Director in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and as former head of education at the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR).[3]
In terms of total research funding allocations from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 2007/8, the top 15 universities were all Russell Group institutions.[4] LSE was 21st, due to its focus on less lucrative social science research. Queen's University Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh, were not included in this table, as they are not English institutions. The Russell Group institutions received 82% of the total HEFCE research funding allocation.[4]
The research funding figures depend on factors other than the quality of research, in particular there are variations due to institutional size and subject spread (e.g. science, technology and medicine tend to attract more money).
In 2008, 18 of the 20 members were positioned in the top 20 of Research Fortnight's Research Assessment Exercise 'Power' Table (the other two places being occupied by non-Russell Group members, Durham University and Queen Mary, University of London).[2]
In 2009/10, 19 of the 20 UK universities with the highest income from research grants and contracts were members of the Russell Group.[5]
| Universitya | Research income (£,000) | |
| 1 | University of Oxford | 367,000 |
| 2 | Imperial College London | 296,800 |
| 3 | University College London | 275,061 |
| 4 | University of Cambridge | 267,700 |
| 5 | University of Manchester | 194,603 |
| 6 | University of Edinburgh | 185,279 |
| 7 | King's College London | 144,053 |
| 8 | University of Glasgow | 129,163 |
| 9 | University of Leeds | 119,319 |
| 10 | University of Liverpool | 110,800 |
| 11 | University of Birmingham | 104,811 |
| 12 | University of Nottingham | 104,100 |
| 13 | University of Bristol | 101,400 |
| 14 | University of Sheffield | 98,748 |
| 15 | University of Southampton | 96,323 |
| 16 | Cardiff University | 87,962 |
| 17 | Newcastle University | 85,200 |
| 18 | University of Warwick | 79,802 |
| 19 | Queen Mary, University of London | 68,472 |
| 20 | Queen's University Belfast | 66,585 |
| 40 | London School of Economics | 23,856 |
Notes:
a Name in bold text denotes membership of the Russell Group
| University | The Complete University Guidea[6] | The Timesa[7] | QS World University Rankingsb[8] | Times Higher Education World University Rankingsc[9] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Birmingham | 22 | 26 | 67 | 145 |
| University of Bristol | 11 | 13 | 30 | 68 |
| University of Cambridge | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Cardiff University | 37 | 35 | 135 | Not ranked |
| University of Edinburgh | 13 | 15 | 20 | 40 |
| University of Glasgow | 21 | 22 | 59 | 128 |
| Imperial College London | 3 | 4 | 6 | 9 |
| King's College London | 16 | 24 | 27 | 77 |
| University of Leeds | 32 | 30 | 93 | 168 |
| University of Liverpool | 30 | 31 | 123 | 165 |
| London School of Economics | 4 | 3 | 64 | 86 |
| University of Manchester | 29 | 31 | 29 | 87 |
| Newcastle University | 24 | 25 | 127 | 152 |
| University of Nottingham | 17 | 16 | 74 | 174 |
| University of Oxford | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Queen's University Belfast | 31 | 38 | 193 | Not ranked |
| University of Sheffield | 26 | 17 | 72 | 137 |
| University of Southampton | 14 | 19 | 75 | 90 |
| University College London | 7 | 5 | 7 | 22 |
| University of Warwick | 8 | 8 | 50 | Not ranked |
Notes:
a National ranking; latest available year (2012-13)
b Global ranking; latest available year (2011-2012)
c Global ranking; latest available year (2010-11)
In response to the Russell Group's support for tuition fees (and other issues), the students' unions of the member universities formed the Aldwych Group as a parallel organisation to represent the common interests of their students.
The Institute of Economic Affairs has argued that the Russell Group acts out of protectionist interests. It is claimed that this will "restrict competition, discourage innovation and encourage inefficiency, thereby depriving students of lower prices and/or greater choice". [10]
The Russell Group has been prominent in recent years in the debate over the introduction of tuition fees, a measure which it has strongly supported - much to the dismay of the universities' students' unions. Indeed, members of the Group argued that even the fees proposed by the controversial Higher Education Bill would not be sufficient to cover the rising cost of undergraduate teaching, and successfully argued for the right to charge variable fees at much higher rates, so-called top-up fees.
Comparable bodies in other countries
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