If not all, some of us are aware that the UK Government does not have a ranking system for its Universities. If this is the case, then one wonders what are these ranking tables published by Guardian, Times, etc.
I thought Prospective students and Parents, who are not already aware would appreciate this Post, which illustrates what (i) the UK Government’s stand on ranking system and (ii) ranking tables published by Independent agencies, such as Guardian, Times, etc. especially at a time when the Guardian has published recently its University Guide 2016.
Quality Assurance Agency (QAA):
The UK has a well-deserved reputation world-wide for providing high quality and well-respected higher education. There are well over 100 institutions in the UK that are permitted to award a wide variety of degrees to suit most educational aspirations. All those institutions have degree awarding powers recognised by the UK authorities (UK and Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies).
In addition to institutions awarding degrees, there are also several hundred colleges and other institutions which do not have degree-awarding powers but who provide complete courses leading to recognised UK degrees. Courses at these institutions are validated by institutions which have degree awarding powers.
However, universities and their courses are independently assessed by QAA (Quality Assurance Agency). These reviews contain judgements on whether standards, quality and the information an institution provides about itself have met UK expectations and the reviews can be found on the QAA website.
The UK authorities recognise those institutions which have been granted degree-awarding powers by a Royal Charter, Act of Parliament or the Privy Council. These are known as ‘recognised bodies’. All UK universities and some higher education colleges are recognised bodies. Other institutions, which do not have the power to award their own degrees, may provide full courses which lead to a degree of a recognised body. These are known as ‘listed bodies’.
Source: https://www.gov.uk/recognised-uk-degrees
Published Rankings:
Guardian University Guide 2016
This Guide includes an Overall Ranking of Universities and 53 Tables for each subject area.
According to Wikipedia, 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 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. There is loads of advice for students thinking of going to university on the Guardian Students site.
The tables have been compiled for the Guardian by Intelligent Metrix, an independent consultancy that specialises in measuring performance in higher education. The rankings are based on official data collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) and on the National Student Survey, published by Hefce.
Prospective students – Good luck with finding your perfect course.
ramsiva 