Rankings of universities in the United Kingdom

Three national rankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually – by The Complete University Guide, The Guardian and jointly by The Times and The Sunday Times. Rankings have also been produced in the past by The Daily Telegraph and 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.[1][2] All of the league tables also rank universities on their strength in individual subjects.

Each year since 2008, Times Higher Education has compiled a "Table of Tables" to combine the results of the 3 mainstream league tables. In the 2017 table,[3] the top 5 universities were the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of St Andrews, Imperial College London and Durham University. The top 5 universities in a 2009 ranking of British universities by national reputation were Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, LSE and St Andrews,[4] while in a companion international reputation ranking, the top 5 British universities were Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, Imperial and Manchester.[5] The top five universities in a 2015 ranking of institutes that produce the country's most employable graduates in a survey of recruiters from major UK companies in the business, IT and engineering sectors[6] were Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, Manchester and King's College London. The five universities with the highest average UCAS tariff scores for undergraduates starting in 2015-16 were Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, LSE and St Andrews.[7]

Rankings

The following rankings of British universities are produced annually:

The Complete University Guide

The Complete University Guide is compiled by Mayfield University Consultants (which had previously compiled university rankings for The Times).[8] 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.[9]

The ranking uses ten criteria, with a statistical technique called the Z-transformation applied to the results of each.[10] The ten Z-scores are then weighted (by 1.5 for student satisfaction, 0.5 for research intensity, academic services spend and facilities spend, 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 ten criteria are:[11]

The most recent league table (2018) ranked the top 50 (out of 129) British universities as follows:[12]

Rank (1-10)UniversityRank (11-20)University Rank (21-30)University Rank (31-40)University Rank (41-50)University
1 University of Cambridge 11 University of Bath 21 King's College London 31 University of Sheffield 41 University of Liverpool
2 University of Oxford 12 University of East Anglia 22 University of Manchester 32 University of Essex 42 City University
3 University of St Andrews 13 University of Surrey =23 University of Edinburgh 33QMUL 43 Coventry University
4 London School of Economics =14 University of Exeter =23 Newcastle University 34 Royal Holloway =44 Swansea University
5 Imperial College London =14 University of Leeds 25 University of Kent 35 QUB =44 University of Strathclyde
6 Durham University 16 University of Birmingham =26 University of Southampton =36 University of Glasgow 46 Harper Adams University
7 University College London 17 University of Bristol =26 University of Reading =36 Cardiff University 47 Brunel University
8 University of Warwick 18 University of Nottingham 28 Heriot-Watt University 38 SOAS 48 Keele University
9 Lancaster University 19 University of Sussex 29 University of Dundee 39 Stirling University 49 Aston University
10 Loughborough University 20 University of York 30 University of Leicester 40 University of Aberdeen 50 University of Lincoln

The Guardian

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.[13] 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".[1] Tables are drawn up for subjects, with the overall ranking being based on an average across the subjects rather than on institutional level statistics. The eight criteria are:[1]

The most recent league table (2018) ranked the top 50 (out of 121) British universities as follows:[14]

Rank (1-10)UniversityRank (11-20)University Rank (21-30)University Rank (31-40)University Rank (41-50)University
1 University of Cambridge =10 University of Surrey 21 University for the Creative Arts =30 Newcastle University =40 Royal Holloway
2 University of Oxford 12 Coventry University 22 University of Kent =32 University of Falmouth 42 University of Cardiff
3 University of St Andrews 13 University of Exeter 23 University of Glasgow =32City University 43 University of Leicester
4 Durham University 14University of Leeds 24 University of Dundee 34 Nottingham Trent University 44 QMUL
5 University of Bath =15 London School of Economics 25 SOAS 35 University of Southampton 45 Swansea University
=6 Imperial College London =15 University of Birmingham 26 Heriot-Watt University 36 University of Keele 46 University of Aberdeen
=6 Loughborough University 17 University of York 27 University of Bristol 37 University of Portsmouth 47 University of Lincoln
8 University of Warwick 18 University of East Anglia 28 University of Manchester 38 Queen's University, Belfast =48 University of Essex
9 Lancaster University 19 University of Nottingham 29 University of Reading 39 King's College London =48 Northumbria University
=10University College London 20 University of Sussex =30 University of Edinburgh =40 University of Sheffield 50 Oxford Brookes University

The Times/The Sunday Times

The Times/The Sunday Times university league table, known as the Good University Guide,[15] is published in both electronic and print format and ranks institutions using the following eight criteria:[16]

Other criteria considered are:

Summary of National Rankings

The following universities rank in the top 10 in at least one of the 2017/18 national rankings; the table is ordered according to the Times Higher Education Table of Tables (2017):[17]

University THE Table of Tables (2017)[17] Complete (2018)[12] Guardian (2018)[14] #a
University of Cambridge 1 1 1
3c
University of Oxford 2 2 2
3c
University of St Andrews 3 3 3
3c
Imperial College London 4= 5 6=
3
Durham University 4= 6 4
3
Loughborough University 6 10 6=
2
London School of Economics 7 4 15
2
University of Warwick 8 8 8
3
Lancaster University 9 9 9
3
University of Surrey 10 13 10=
1
University College London 11 7 10=
3
University of Exeter 12= 14 13
1
University of Bath 12= 11 5
1

Notes:
a Number of times the university is ranked within the top 10 of one of the three national rankings.
b The university is ranked within the top 5 of all three national rankings.
c The university is ranked within the top 3 of all three national rankings.

Disparity with global rankings

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 St Andrews and LSE (in the case of LSE 3rd to 13th nationally whilst only 327th in the US News & World Report Rankings / 35th in the QS Rankings / 23rd in the THE Rankings), "inhabit surprisingly low ranks in the worldwide tables", whilst other universities such as Manchester and KCL "that failed to do well in the domestic rankings have shone much brighter on the international stage".[18] 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.[19][20][21] When size is taken into account, LSE ranks second in the world out of all small to medium-sized specialist institutions (after ENS Paris) and St Andrews ranks second in the world out of all small to medium-sized fully comprehensive universities (after Brown University) using metrics from the QS Intelligence Unit in 2015.[22] 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 quality of a university's intake, employment prospects, research quality and dropout rates.[1][23]

The disparity between national and international league tables has caused some institutions to offer public explanations for the difference. LSE for example states on its website that 'we remain concerned that all of the global rankings - by some way the most important for us, given our highly international orientation - suffer from inbuilt biases in favour of large multi-faculty universities with full STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) offerings, and against small, specialist, mainly non-STEM universities such as LSE.'[24]

Research by the UK's Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) in 2016 found that global rankings fundamentally measure research performance, with research-related measured accounting for over 85 percent of the weighting for both the Times Higher Education and QS rankings and 100 percent of the weighting for the ARWU ranking. HEPI also found that ARWU made no correction for the size of an institution. There were also concerns about the data quality and the reliability of reputation surveys. National rankings, while said to be "of varying validity", have more robust data and are "more highly regarded than international rankings".[25]

British Universities in Global Rankings

The following universities rank in the top 100 of at least two global rankings:[26]

University QS World (2018)[27] THE World (2016/17)[28] ARWU World (2016)[29] CWTS Leiden (2017)[30] #a
University of Cambridge 4 4 4 21
4c
University of Oxford 6 1 7 16
4c
University College London 7 15 17 26
4b
Imperial College London 8 8 22 33
4b
King's College London 23= 36 50 34
4b
University of Edinburgh 23= 27 41 51
4
University of Manchester 34 55 35 101
3
London School of Economics 35 25 151-200 58
3
University of Bristol 44 71 57 47
4
University of Warwick 57 82 151-200 73
3
University of Glasgow 65 88 151-200 82
3
Durham University 78 96 201-300 74
3
University of St Andrews 92 110 301-400 94
2

Notes:
a Number of times the university is ranked within the top 100 of one of the four global rankings.
b The university is ranked within the top 50 of all four global rankings.
c The university is ranked within the top 25 of all four global rankings.

Criticism

UK university rankings have been subject to criticism.

Accuracy and neutrality

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".[31] He also criticised 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.[31] Further worries have been expressed regarding marketing strategies and propaganda used to chase tables undermining Universities values.[32]

The Guardian suggests that league tables may affect the nature of undergraduate admissions in an attempt to improve a university's league table position.[33]

Roger Brown, the former Vice Chancellor of Southampton Solent University argues the limitations of comparative data when comparing Universities.[34]

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.[35]

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 (now part of UCL), was not usually listed in the undergraduate rankings despite the fact that it offered an undergraduate B.Ed and was 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).[36][37]

Full-time bias

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.[38] 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).[39]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Guardian University League Table 2011 – Methodology" (PDF). London: The Guardian. 8 June 2010. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  2. ↑ "The University League Table methodology 2011". The Complete University Guide. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  3. ↑ "THE ‘Table of Tables’ 2017: Loughborough catching up with elite". Times Higher Education. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "UK Reputation Index" (PDF). The Guardian. London. 20 August 2009.
  5. ↑ "International Reputation Index" (PDF). The Guardian. London. 20 August 2009.
  6. ↑ "The best UK universities chosen by major employers". Times Higher Education. London. 12 November 2015.
  7. ↑ "The 10 hardest universities to get into". The Telegraph. 12 May 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  8. ↑ http://www.planning.ed.ac.uk/Management_Information/CompleteUniversityGuide2010.htm Archived July 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ League Table Methodology – Complete University Guide
  10. ↑ League Table Key – Complete University Guide
  11. ↑ "Methodology". Complete University Guide. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  12. 1 2 "The Complete University Guide 2018". The Complete University Guide. 26 April 2017.
  13. ↑ MacLeod, Donald (1 May 2007). "What the tables mean". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  14. 1 2 "University guide 2017: University league table". The Guardian. London. 16 May 2017.
  15. ↑ http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/gug/
  16. ↑ "How the guide was compiled". The Times. London. 11 September 2011. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  17. 1 2 Chris Havergal (12 October 2016). "THE ‘Table of Tables’ 2017: Loughborough catching up with elite". Times Higher Education.
  18. ↑ Thomas, Zoe (11 October 2009). "UK universities top the league table in Europe". London: The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
  19. ↑ "About ARWU". Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  20. ↑ "QS World University Rankings 2010". QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  21. ↑ "Global rankings system methodology reflects universities' core missions". Times Higher Education. 7 September 2010. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  22. ↑ "QS World University Rankings: World Map Results (Filter by Institution Profile)". Quacquarelli Symonds Intelligence Unit. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  23. ↑ "The University League Table methodology 2011". The Complete University Guide. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
  24. ↑ http://www.lse.ac.uk/aboutLSE/leagueTables/LSEinUniversityLeagueTables.aspx
  25. ↑ Bahram Bekhradnia (15 December 2016). "International university rankings: For good or ill?" (PDF). Higher Education Policy Institute. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  26. ↑ University Rankings: United Kingdom
  27. ↑ "QS World University Rankings 2018". Quacquarelli Symonds. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  28. ↑ "World University Rankings 2016-17". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  29. ↑ "Academic Ranking of World Universities - 2016". Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  30. ↑ "CWTS Leiden Ranking 2017 - PP (top 10%)". Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  31. 1 2 Reporter 485 | 28 October 2002 | University league tables
  32. ↑ McNamara, Adam. "BULL: A new form of propaganda in the digital age.". Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  33. ↑ MacLeod, Donald (19 April 2007). "Funding council to investigate university league tables". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  34. ↑ Brown, Roger (10 April 2007). "Tables can turn". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  35. ↑ Alderman, Geoffrey (24 April 2007). "League tables rule - and standards inevitably fall". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  36. ↑ Times Higher Education RAE tables
  37. ↑ Guardian RAE results for 'Education' subject area
  38. ↑ Times Higher Education RAE 2008 tables
  39. ↑ BBC league table of student satisfaction survey
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