[Valh]

(Original post by Onewingedangel)
How no?
The only UK universities that have international renown are Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial college.
Nobody outside the UK recognizes UCL.

I'm international too and people recognize Oxford and Cambridge but rarely LSE/Imperial/UCL. But we are both just speaking from anecdotal evidence.

[Sharri5]

(Original post by sarah1345)
Certainly for Undergraduate level, UK universities are renowned around the world as being leaders in this field. Perhaps for postgraduate, the US certainly leads the way however.

Britain does well when you consider the billions American universities receive.

Nope, they may lead but they're not better than american unis.

[Onewingedangel]

(Original post by sarah1345)
Certainly for Undergraduate level, UK universities are renowned around the world as being leaders in this field. Perhaps for postgraduate, the US certainly leads the way however.

Britain does well when you consider the billions American universities receive.

I agree with this actually.
When it comes to undergraduate study, universities like oxford and cambridge are miles ahead of the joke undergraduate programs they have at places like yale and harvard.

[sarah1345]

(Original post by Sharri5)
Nope, they may lead but they're not better than american unis.

To be honest, you can't say American unis. They have plenty of **** party universities you know, similar to our ex-polys, but we have less, and are a relatively new addition to the British education system.

In America, as long as you have money you'll go to uni. If you took all of our unis, against all of theirs, we'd probably win considering the size of our system. It's tiny to America, yet plenty of universities punch above their weight.

but yes, obviously their top unis are better than our top ones.

[ShredMaster]

(Original post by Onewingedangel)
I'm a Brit who's lived abroad all my life, and in the US, nobody has ever heard of UCL. Ever. Most think I'm talking about UCLA. They have heard about Imperial college and LSE though.
UCL just doesn't stand out in any way. It has a boring name and it's a general university similar to oxbridge, but its reputation is miles below. Hence it has no distinguishing aspects. Imperial and LSE can compete with oxbridge in their respective areas of expertise. UCL cannot compete with oxbridge or lse or imperial.
Do you think one would rather do economics at UCL than LSE?
That one would do mech engineering at UCL than Imperial?
UCL is just an average university.

Stop talking rubbish. Thanks. This is almost as bad as your "blacks and arabs are stupid thread". Just get out xD.

[Apeiron]

(Original post by Onewingedangel)
Remember when UCL was supposedly the 4th best university in the world?
That alone should tell you everything you need to know about the QS world university rankings.
It's total garbage and an insult to the intelligence.
UCL, some average UK university; better than the likes of MIT, Princeton, Oxford, Imperial college, Caltech, Columbia... etc? Don't make me laugh.
Then you have other anomalies like McGill ranking higher than both Toronto and UBC.
They should just give up and throw it all into the fire.

A ranking system measures what it measures according to its methodology. QS uses subjective academic peer review as a main component and currently places UCL 7th. The Times system uses a broader spectrum approach, including a research citation count, and places UCL 17th.

Either way, UCL is way above average, though not in the top league. If people can't be bothered to understand how ranking systems work, they are probably not top university material.

[dirtyoldriver]

(Original post by Onewingedangel)
I'm a Brit who's lived abroad all my life, and in the US, nobody has ever heard of UCL. Ever. Most think I'm talking about UCLA. They have heard about Imperial college and LSE though.
UCL just doesn't stand out in any way. It has a boring name and it's a general university similar to oxbridge, but its reputation is miles below. Hence it has no distinguishing aspects. Imperial and LSE can compete with oxbridge in their respective areas of expertise. UCL cannot compete with oxbridge or lse or imperial.
Do you think one would rather do economics at UCL than LSE?
That one would do mech engineering at UCL than Imperial?
UCL is just an average university.

This is kind of stupid, you're bringing up two universities which specialise and saying that people would rather go there for their specialised subject than to a university which doesn't specialise. It's kind of a no-brainer.
On the other hand, if you wanted to do architecture, english, psychology, law or archaeology you'd probably want to go to UCL since it's departments for all of the above are exceptional and either the best or amongst the best in the country, and I'd imagine very competitive on an international scale as well. Perhaps UCL is not the 4th best in the world, but it is certainly not 'average' by any means.
UK universities will always have a hard time competing against those in the US simply due to funding.

[Theophile]

(Original post by whyumadtho)
Proof? You understand what 'average' means, don't you? By no account is UCL average.

In terms of American universities, you can't discount the overriding significance of cultural hegemony in their international reputation. The average person knows of American universities because of their frequent portrayal in films and TV programmes.

this is very true

[No Future]

(Original post by sarah1345)
I'm sure that many abroad simply know the London universities as University of London, or am I wrong?

That's what I meant

[sarah1345]

(Original post by No Future)
That's what I meant

Ah okay, yeah, most abroad just know it as London, Oxford, Cambridge.

[Cabine Sono Qui]

(Original post by Onewingedangel)
I'm a Brit who's lived abroad all my life, and in the US, nobody has ever heard of UCL. Ever. Most think I'm talking about UCLA. They have heard about Imperial college and LSE though.
UCL just doesn't stand out in any way. It has a boring name and it's a general university similar to oxbridge, but its reputation is miles below. Hence it has no distinguishing aspects. Imperial and LSE can compete with oxbridge in their respective areas of expertise. UCL cannot compete with oxbridge or lse or imperial.
Do you think one would rather do economics at UCL than LSE?
That one would do mech engineering at UCL than Imperial?
UCL is just an average university.

You have no idea about UCL do you? It's world class in pretty much every area, especially in humanities, social sciences and medical sciences.

With regards to economics and engineering as you mentioned them: UCL's economics departments is one of the best in the world. If you don't believe me, look at its staff. In the 2008 RAE it scored joint first with LSE above Oxford and Cambridge. For engineering granted it's relatively weaker, but it's improving rapidly and is still top quality.

Basically you're talking a load of garbage. UCL may not have the same 'brand name' as LSE/Imperial, but the gap is small and closing rapidly. Amongst academic and employer circles it's highly regarded and that's all that matters ultimately, not what your average Joe on the street thinks.

QS ranked it 4th in the world last year and 7th this year. The Times ranked it 21st in the world last year and it's moved up to 17th this year. Hardly 'average'

[Like_A_G6]

Should say a degree from Engineering from Imperial, Cambridge or Southampton in India is regarded ridiculously highly. The countries graduates from IIT (best uni in India for engineering) cannot compete with graduates from these institutions. Source: My Indian uni friends doing engineering.

[Frenchous]

(Original post by Like_A_G6)
Should say a degree from Engineering from Imperial, Cambridge or Southampton in India is regarded ridiculously highly. The countries graduates from IIT (best uni in India for engineering) cannot compete with graduates from these institutions. Source: My Indian uni friends doing engineering.

That's funny because Soton really sucks

[Like_A_G6]

(Original post by Frenchous)
That's funny because Soton really sucks

Not for engineering and computer science.

[Desertanium]

Hi, can anyone give me the top 20 universities for English Literatures from The Times? Thanks

[Tsunami2011]

(Original post by Desertanium)
Hi, can anyone give me the top 20 universities for English Literatures from The Times? Thanks

2 University College London 4.4 486 2.85 81.0 100.0
2 1 Oxford 4.3 504 3.00 78.0 99.8
3 3 Durham 4.3 497 2.80 76.0 98.8
4 4 Cambridge 4.2 529 2.95 70.0 98.6
5 6 York 4.0 490 3.15 74.0 98.5
6 5 Warwick 4.2 487 2.95 74.0 98.2
7 8 St Andrews 4.1 480 2.95 69.0 96.7
8 9 Exeter 4.2 459 3.00 67.0 96.4
9 7 Bristol 4.0 503 2.85 69.0 96.4
10 11 Nottingham 4.0 459 3.00 71.0 96.3
11 18 Sussex 4.4 415 2.70 70.0 95.1
12 15 Queen Mary 4.3 401 3.05 64.0 94.7
13 16 Leicester 4.3 416 2.70 68.0 94.5
14 21 Lancaster 4.1 425 2.70 69.0 94.2
15 11 Leeds 4.1 449 2.95 61.0 94.2
16 13 Edinburgh 3.9 438 3.05 62.0 93.9
17 17 Newcastle 4.1 444 2.90 61.0 93.8
18 19 Liverpool 4.1 425 2.90 62.0 93.7
19 25 Loughborough 4.4 398 2.50 68.0 93.7
20 20 Southampton

[swbp]

Could someone explain why Goldsmiths is so low in university league tables? I'm not going there, a friend is, yet i'm really suprised that some have placed them around 50th. They have really good research standards, and it isn't easy to get a place....

[fnm]

which were the founding members of the russell group?

[BillLionheart]

(Original post by Fields)
Subject tables are more useful.

From a maths point of view at least newspaper subject tables are almost entirely useless.

[nulli tertius]

(Original post by fnm)
which were the founding members of the russell group?

The Russell Group has an Orwellian view of history so this is very difficult information to find.

The earliest information on THES (Jan 1995) gives 15 members. Although the names aren't mentioned those of the current 20 which weren't in at the beginning were Warwick, LSE and Queen's. I don't know the other two.

However when the group was still secret, I believe it was smaller with, I think, only 11 members.