Is Lancaster a good university?
I know it has shot up the league tables recently, but do employers and people in general consider it a good university? Perhaps even an excellent university?
What universities would you say it is on par with, in terms of reputation?
What universities would you say it is on par with, in terms of reputation?
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Id say around the likes of Reading/Newcastle & Liverpool...
Emiliola
I know it has shot up the league tables recently, but do employers and people in general consider it a good university? Perhaps even an excellent university?
What universities would you say it is on par with, in terms of reputation?
What universities would you say it is on par with, in terms of reputation?
I'd put it in my top 20, but not top 10.
DPLSK
Depends what department you go for. Lancaster doesn't do Mechanics in their Maths department so I consider it a different league from Manchester (who does it).
Overall though - it's a pretty good university.
Overall though - it's a pretty good university.
I was thinking from an Overall/Law perspective.
I don't think it's regarded as a top 10 uni yet, but it's just outside if you know what I mean?
Great uni though, collegiate systems rock.
yoyo462001
Id say around the likes of Reading/Newcastle & Liverpool...
This.
It's not quite as good as the likes of Manchester; look at Mancs research quality, that's the biggest difference. And it's not top 15 quality; those that rate it as up with the top 10 are deluded. Yes, it's good for earth sciences, physics etc, but overall it's not quite up there yet. Having said this; if you go to any uni in the top 30 you won't hold a significant advantage over any other uni in the top 30 so really it's all a bit pointless when employers look at work experience, whether they want to work with you etc as much as or even more than the uni you went to.
It's good a good feel to it, and they seem to be doing a lot of things 'right' if you know what I mean. I can't explain it. I'd pick it over some of the bigger redbricks anyday, having visited a fair few; that's a lot to do with the fact that I'm not a massive city person, but also because Lancaster's definitely a quality uni.
However, most people I spoke about it to hadn't even heard of it, so the likes of manchester etc. have a more wide reaching reputation, added to the fact that they're much bigger, probably richer, and admit more students than lancaster.
But I turned down some more 'famous' unis for it, and I'm glad it's getting recognition in the leagues tables, I hope it does become a more familiar and well regarded name.
However, most people I spoke about it to hadn't even heard of it, so the likes of manchester etc. have a more wide reaching reputation, added to the fact that they're much bigger, probably richer, and admit more students than lancaster.
But I turned down some more 'famous' unis for it, and I'm glad it's getting recognition in the leagues tables, I hope it does become a more familiar and well regarded name.
Mann18
I was thinking from an Overall/Law perspective.
I don't think it's regarded as a top 10 uni yet, but it's just outside if you know what I mean? Great uni though, collegiate systems rock.
I don't think it's regarded as a top 10 uni yet, but it's just outside if you know what I mean? Great uni though, collegiate systems rock.
It's a pretty good uni - haven't considered ranking it. Its accommodation is absolutely wonderful though and it's cheap to live there. College system seems pretty good too and it does well in UNISTATS.
I simply could not forgive them for their lack of Mechanics though - although I don't like it, I must appreciate its significance towards my discipline.
yoyo462001
Id say around the likes of Reading/Newcastle & Liverpool...
orca92
x
Hmmm...you're not one of those who thinks Newcastle and Liverpool are amongst the weaker Russell Group universities, but have nothing to back that up with?
It's hard to compare universities. Reading and Newcastle are of very different sizes for a start, with different strengths (Newcastle having a large medical school - something lacking in Reading). Reading's strengths being areas like business (through Henley) and Real Estate.
I think Newcastle is 15th in terms of research income. Higher than Warwick, LSE, Durham and certainly higher than Reading.
Even going by league tables Newcastle is often in the late teens and early 20s (with Reading, and Liverpool, in the 30s - 40s).
This, especially the last point, doesn't mean that I think Newcastle is significantly stronger than Reading. I just don't see why Newcastle is weaker than other universities who I'm assuming you (and others) think are stronger. From St Andrews, to Exeter, to Bath, to Leeds.
This isn't directed so much at orca92, but it will be interesting to know which universities he consider to be of a similar standard to Manchester.
You refer to Manchester's research quality, and is is certainy a university with very large research power. But in a number ofvdepartments Lancaster and Manchester having in common then it's Lancaster who offer research of a higher quality (and quantity) or there isn't too much in it. The difference between the two being size with Manchester having a far, far greater breadth of departments.
Stefan1991
Lancaster is far higher in the league tables than Manchester. Last time I checked Lancaster is the 6th best university in the country, with also one of the highest student satisfaction rates.
Yes. But it's a league table. It's also only one league table. Because it's sixth in one table it doesn't mean it's the sixth best university in the country as others will place it tenth, twentieth or thirtieth.
The same point I made about Newcastle and Reading can be made here (except that this time it's the Russell Group university, Manchester, who ranks lower - though this wasn't always the case).
Emiliola
What universities would you say it is on par with, in terms of reputation?
What universities would you say it is on par with, in terms of reputation?
Reputation is subjective. One person might think a university is prestigious/has a good reputation whilst another hasn't heard of it.
But Lancaster is certainly a good university. I wouldn't place too much faith in league tables given their flaws. Certainly don't think that because Lancaster has risen into the top ten it has experienced some huge improvement in the past year or two.
It's a member of the 1994 Group (a group of smaller research intensive universities - similar to the Russell Group which is a collection of larger research intensive universities). Although there are plenty of good universities outside both groups they do provide a decent guideline to which are amongst the strongest universities in the country.
I touched upon the difficulty of comparing universities above, especially universities of such different sizes, but the vast majority of Russell Group and 1994 Group universities are of a comparable standard. They are all capable of offering a good education with good research quality and teaching standards across the the faculties but all still have one or two mediocore departments as well.
If you're worried about employment prospects then, with the possible exception of a handful of career areas (like law and investment banking and, even then, only in certain circumstances) a Durham, St Andrews, Manchester or Newcastle graduate is unlikely to be favoured over a Lancaster graduate on the basis of university name alone.
My cousin went there, supposed to be good - not quite top 10 as others have said but still a decent uni nonetheless.
Shows how league tables affect perception. Before this years tables everyone on here would say that it was definitely outside the top 20, now it is suddenly borderline top 10 WTF?
It is okay, imo hovering around the top 20-25 mark in terms of reputation.
It is okay, imo hovering around the top 20-25 mark in terms of reputation.
AfghanistanBananistan
Shows how league tables affect perception. Before this years tables everyone on here would say that it was definitely outside the top 20, now it is suddenly borderline top 10 WTF?.
Not really, almost everyone has had it isn't "top ten". Or haven't commented on league table positions.....
I thought it was amazing.
Don't have much to say, but don't you support the point, that we can't compare universities overall? Every single university has strong departments among with some not that good departments. The same is here. You might call me biased as I'm going to be a fresher this year, but from everything I read, Lancaster's power is in the Business/Management School. Lanc Management School and one more business department of university (cant remember the name) are the only rated 6* schools in the UK. And talking about research quality, lets take a look in RAE 2008 UNIT 36 Business and Managemenet Studies. It looks like Manchester, Warwick and Cardiff are the only universities with more overall research points. So what does that mean? That none of the so called "top 10" universities pay enough attention to researches and those researches show how up-to-date the teaching is.
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