Best non-London-based university after Oxbridge

Poll

Which university is the best after Oxbridge? (excluding London based universities)

Which university is the best in UK after Oxbridge according to you (excluding London based universities) in overall terms?

EDIT: I voted Warwick for the following reasons:
The University of Warwick is one of only five universities never to have been rated outside the top ten in terms of teaching excellence and research. Entrance is highly competitive, with around nine applicants per place. Warwick is the second most-targeted university in the UK by top employers.
It also falls within the top 50 universities of the world. (However it is not based in London, so its preferable for people having related preferences)

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1

TGH1

6

I'd say UWIC is much better than both of them, to be honest.

Harvard.

Original post by Hippysnake

Harvard.

lol

Reply 4

nju

4

I would say University if Nottingham is pretty good too

Reply 5

Bobifier

13

I guess most of the votes will be concentrated in Warwick, Durham and St Andrews with proportion similar to the proportion of students from these universities on TSR.

Reply 6

Miracle Day

21

Original post by TGH1

I'd say UWIC is much better than both of them, to be honest.

WTF.. really?

Reply 7

cosmobear92

Lancaster? :s-smilie:

I'd have thought Bristol would have been one of the options.

Reply 8

cat_in_the_hat

7

Durham. They don't call it the Oxbridge of the north for nothing.

Warwick of course.

Original post by cat_in_the_hat

Durham. They don't call it the Oxbridge of the north for nothing.

They don't. Unless by "they" you mean Durham students in which case it doesn't really count.

Who cares really

Original post by shyopstv

They don't. Unless by "they" you mean Durham students in which case it doesn't really count.

Err.. Yes. Durham is regarded as the university for those who don't go to Oxbridge.

<3 x

Reply 13

Tsunami2011

15

Original post by LETSJaM

Err.. Yes. Durham is regarded as the university for those who don't go to Oxbridge.

<3 x

Err... That's more to do with the similar traditons and culture, and the fact that Durham's college system is a poor man's version of Oxbridge's. Durham is the third oldest university in England so back in the day, well there wasn't any alternative, if you weren't good enough for Oxbridge then you were ****ed. in terms of academics, LSE, Imperial, UCL and Warwick all have their fair share of Oxbridge rejects.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 14

LETSJaM

16

Original post by Tsunami2011

Err... That's more to do with the similar traditons and culture, and the fact that Durham's college system is a poor man's version of Oxbridge's. Durham is the third oldest university in England so back in the day, well there wasn't any alternative, if you weren't good enough for Oxbridge then you were ****ed. in terms of academics, LSE, Imperial, UCL and Warwick all have their fair share of Oxbridge rejects.

Well culture and traditions are a valid reason as they make up life.

WTF??? And no, Both Kings, and UCL were founded before Durham in the UK alone.

And "back in the day you were ****ed" is crap. Back in the day only around 1% of people went to uni, and you got in through the Old Boy's Network.

I know that the London Uni's + Warwick have their fair shave of Oxbridge rejects but my point still stands about Durham's reputation.

<3 x

Reply 15

Tsunami2011

15

Original post by LETSJaM

Well culture and traditions are a valid reason as they make up life.

WTF??? And no, Both Kings, and UCL were founded before Durham in the UK alone.

And "back in the day you were ****ed" is crap. Back in the day only around 1% of people went to uni, and you got in through the Old Boy's Network.

I know that the London Uni's + Warwick have their fair shave of Oxbridge rejects but my point still stands about Durham's reputation.

<3 x

I apologise for my mistake, I could have sworn that I've seen Durham claim to be the third oldest university in England :s-smilie:

Durham has a reputation for attracting a certain type of Oxbridge reject, which I'm sure you're aware of. I don't think that claim would hold true anymore, Durham is just one in a long list of destinations for Oxbridge rejects.

Reply 16

FDR

10

Original post by Tsunami2011

Err... That's more to do with the similar traditons and culture, and the fact that Durham's college system is a poor man's version of Oxbridge's. Durham is the third oldest university in England so back in the day, well there wasn't any alternative, if you weren't good enough for Oxbridge then you were ****ed. in terms of academics, LSE, Imperial, UCL and Warwick all have their fair share of Oxbridge rejects.

Not really - UCL, King's, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, were all around then, albeit some as Medical schools, and some as University colleges, but you still received a degree nonetheless. Plus there were the universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow around then too.

Durham's probably got that 'oxbridge of the north' title partly because, as you say traditions (it has colleges - albeit the college system there differs), but also because it does attract a lot of public school oxbridge rejects, and tends to rank pretty highly in the league tables as do a swathe of other UK universities, on both counts.

As for the original question posed by the OP, I don't really think it's possible to answer it as it's pretty subjective - it depends on what different people perceive the best to be, and which factors they would consider to contribute to a university being the best.

Reply 17

Tsunami2011

15

Original post by FDR

Not really - UCL, King's, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, were all around then, albeit some as Medical schools, and some as University colleges, but you still received a degree nonetheless. Plus there were the universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow around then too.

Durham's probably got that 'oxbridge of the north' title partly because, as you say traditions (it has colleges - albeit the college system there differs), but also because it does attract a lot of public school oxbridge rejects, and tends to rank pretty highly in the league tables as do a swathe of other UK universities, on both counts.

As for the original question posed by the OP, I don't really think it's possible to answer it as it's pretty subjective - it depends on what different people perceive the best to be, and which factors they would consider to contribute to a university being the best.

I wasn't being entirely serious..just thought I'd say that, before I'm quoted by 10+ people.

Reply 18

TGH1

6

Original post by Miracle Day

WTF.. really?

No, I was merely trolling :rolleyes:

I was hoping that fellow Welsh people would pick up on that :tongue:

Reply 19

River85

17

Original post by shyopstv

They don't. Unless by "they" you mean Durham students in which case it doesn't really count.

Only ever heard it used by the Times (or Sunday Times?) myself, never by any Durham student in the last eight years and, even then, it is usually in reference to being a place for "those rich enough but not clever enough to get into Oxbridge" and its collegiate history or some such crap.

Original post by LETSJaM

Well culture and traditions are a valid reason as they make up life.

WTF??? And no, Both Kings, and UCL were founded before Durham in the UK alone.

And "back in the day you were ****ed" is crap. Back in the day only around 1% of people went to uni, and you got in through the Old Boy's Network.

I know that the London Uni's + Warwick have their fair shave of Oxbridge rejects but my point still stands about Durham's reputation.

<3 x

And St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh too :p:

But see below.

Original post by Tsunami2011

I apologise for my mistake, I could have sworn that I've seen Durham claim to be the third oldest university in England :s-smilie:

It has a claim to the third oldest university in England, but whether or not it is depends on the criteria you use (the existence of an institute of education even if not an independent university, Act of Parliament or when the Royal Charter is given? There are a number of universities who claim to be third oldest.

Durham is said to have been given university status in 1832 through an Act of Parliament and had students matriculating and studying there, though it didn't receive its Royal Charter (and had its first students graduating) until 1837 - one year after UCL's Royal Charter.

Original post by FDR

Not really - UCL, King's, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, were all around then, albeit some as Medical schools, and some as University colleges, but you still received a degree nonetheless. Plus there were the universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow around then too.

He did say England in all fairness.

Durham didn't just grew out of nowhere in 1832. It has been a site of education for centuries, ever since its establishment as a city by Monks. Ushaw College was founded in Durham in 1808 and became a licensed hall of the University of Durham in the twentieth century, so if you're including places like Birmingham then one can make a loose claim that the university of Durham is actually a generation older than it is (and therefore certainly older than KCL and UCL) on the basis of Ushaw College (I am not including the attempts to create a university there as early as Henry VIII as these weren't successful)

Or that the University of Newcastle, which didn't exist as an independent university until the 1960s, is almost as old as Durham. Whichever way you look at it, it's only anything from a few years to a few decades between Durham, UCL, KCL and the redbricks which, when compared to the Ancients who were established centuries earlier, is no difference at all.

Besides, everyone knows the third oldest university is the original Northampton by some considerable distance (established in the 13th Century).

Best non-London-based university after Oxbridge

Which university is the best after Oxbridge? (excluding London based universities)

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