[HRH2]

Why is King's College's UK ranking going down the drain drastically over the years where as its still very prominent in World Rankings?

UK Rankings
Sunday Times - 10th
The Complete University Guide - 16th
The Times - 24th
The Guardian - 30th

World Rankings
QS World Rankings - 6th in Europe. 21st in the World.
Times Higher Education World University Rankings - 15th in Europe. 77th in the World
Academic Ranking of World Universities - 16th in Europe. 63rd in the World.

In the World rankings KCL beats most of the universities that place above it in UK rankings. The only exceptions are Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and UCL. KCL even beats LSE far and wide in World rankings with LSE being placed 80th, 86th and between 201 - 300 in the ARWU.

I know that Kings enjoys a good international reputation and standing, especially in North America but the displacement between the two rankings are huge. Any reasons?

[Sabrinified]

I'm betting it's the postgraduate research and facilities... you always hear about King's or University of London research in the news.

EDIT: Totally misread your post, sorry! >.<

[HRH2]

(Original post by Sabrinified)
I'm betting it's the postgraduate research and facilities... you always hear about King's or University of London research in the news.

EDIT: Totally misread your post, sorry! >.<

I was reading your signature for your UCAS and for a minute I was like, what? I haven't heard of those universities. lol

[Justinian]

The reputation and standing of King's College in the US has been severely damaged by its decisions to end posts in the school of Arts and Humanities last year. The Times Higher ran a headline 'International scholars decry the madness of King's' on 11th February 2010. There were international petitions about the plan to make three distinguished philosophers redundant and to end the College's Chair of Palaeography (the study of ancient handwriting.) The College did not win friends by refusing to answer the letters it received.

[HRH2]

(Original post by Justinian)
The reputation and standing of King's College in the US has been severely damaged by its decisions to end posts in the school of Arts and Humanities last year. The Times Higher ran a headline 'International scholars decry the madness of King's' on 11th February 2010. There were international petitions about the plan to make three distinguished philosophers redundant and to end the College's Chair of Palaeography (the study of ancient handwriting.) The College did not win friends by refusing to answer the letters it received.

That's minor.

[Dreizhen]

Isn't this a question you're supposed to be able to answer, Mr. Student Ambassador? loljk. I have no clue, but I'd rather look favourably at rankings without lolstudentsatisfaction than the national ones.

10th, 16th and 24th are very decent positions in a country with a hell of a lot of academic merit, anyway, and The Guardian's full of shiznit.

(Ugh why am I even talking about rankings anyway way to betray my own principles)

[Justinian]

(Original post by HRH2)
That's minor.

I submit that it is NOT minor. It reveals all too well how King's College is run, how little value it places on the views of international scholars who dare to challenge its policy, how blinkered its vision. Never forget that one of the Principal's Central Team at King's wrote speeches for Blair to deliver at the UN in support of the Iraq war, and one of the College Council is director of a firm that sells CS Gas and Tear Gas.

[Dreizhen]

(Original post by Justinian)
I submit that it is NOT minor. It reveals all too well how King's College is run, how little value it places on the views of international scholars who dare to challenge its policy, how blinkered its vision. Never forget that one of the Principal's Central Team at King's wrote speeches for Blair to deliver at the UN in support of the Iraq war, and one of the College Council is director of a firm that sells CS Gas and Tear Gas.

Hey, looking at it in a different way, you could argue that the fact that "international scholars decrying the madness at King's" means King's is pretty well-known amongst, well, international scholars! ;P

[BackDoorEntry]

To be perfectly honest I'm not quite sure why it was so high up anyway lol. Its a good uni, but not top class

[HRH2]

(Original post by BackDoorEntry)
To be perfectly honest I'm not quite sure why it was so high up anyway lol. Its a good uni, but not top class

You are doing dentistry. You should know then that it has the most reputed dentistry course in Europe and their Dentistry is referred to as the 'Oxbridge of Dentisty'. Maybe not top class in the overall UK rankings but top class for your course for sure?

[BackDoorEntry]

(Original post by HRH2)
You are doing dentistry. You should know then that it has the most reputed dentistry course in Europe and their Dentistry is referred to as the 'Oxbridge of Dentisty'. Maybe not top class in the overall UK rankings but top class for your course for sure?

All dentistry unis are above ~93/100 on all university ranking tables, so all dental schools are reputable. But for other subjects its not top class, but its good. I don't particularly like the uni IMO

[HRH2]

(Original post by BackDoorEntry)
All dentistry unis are above ~93/100 on all university ranking tables, so all dental schools are reputable. But for other subjects its not top class, but its good. I don't particularly like the uni IMO

Fair enough. There are many things I don't like about the university either. But KCL has the undisputed best Dentistry department. Sorry. Couldn't resist. You know its true

[X_mark_the_spot]

(Original post by BackDoorEntry)
All dentistry unis are above ~93/100 on all university ranking tables, so all dental schools are reputable. But for other subjects its not top class, but its good. I don't particularly like the uni IMO

I actually heard from someone that King's has one of the best law departments in the country, on par with UCL. Is that true?

[HRH2]

(Original post by X_mark_the_spot)
I actually heard from someone that King's has one of the best law departments in the country, on par with UCL. Is that true?

Do you want me to be completely honest? Yes, its on par but by no means better. In London universities UCL and LSE probably lead the way with generic law but some specific courses are KCL tend to me more reputable. One such course is EU Law where students prefer KCL over UCL. So yeah. But if you would HAVE to pick one for the best law department it would probably be LSE = UCL >= KCL. But you do have many advantages of being a Law student at KCL because the Law department is now housed in the Somerset House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_House. As well as that, the Law Society and Law Reporting Council for England and wales are literally on the campus. You also got the Royal Courts of Justice and all the major legal book stores. Many of the Inns of Court are also part of or near the campus. So yeah, in that view point it can be convenient for a student to take up Law at KCL.

[BackDoorEntry]

(Original post by HRH2)
Fair enough. There are many things I don't like about the university either. But KCL has the undisputed best Dentistry department. Sorry. Couldn't resist. You know its true

Yeah the dentistry dept is nice, probably top 3! But I just don't like the uni and the surrounding areas. Have you been to that huge building full of body parts? That's so ace

[X_mark_the_spot]

(Original post by HRH2)
Do you want me to be completely honest? Yes, its on par but by no means better. In London universities UCL and LSE probably lead the way with generic law but some specific courses are KCL tend to me more reputable. One such course is EU Law where students prefer KCL over UCL. So yeah. But if you would HAVE to pick one for the best law department it would probably be LSE = UCL >= KCL. But you do have many advantages of being a Law student at KCL because the Law department is now housed in the Somerset House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_House. As well as that, the Law Society and Law Reporting Council for England and wales are literally on the campus. You also got the Royal Courts of Justice and all the major legal book stores. Many of the Inns of Court are also part of or near the campus. So yeah, in that view point it can be convenient for a student to take up Law at KCL.

Your opinion seems to be a bit biased though . No worries, I'm not looking at King's but I'm just surprised to see people talking down about it since I've heard many good things about the uni over here. Oh well, I guess league tables and word of mouth don't tell the whole story. Those are still pretty decent rankings imo

[HRH2]

(Original post by BackDoorEntry)
Yeah the dentistry dept is nice, probably top 3! But I just don't like the uni and the surrounding areas. Have you been to that huge building full of body parts? That's so ace

Not top 3. The best. Really. Check Wikipedia. :P Anyway, what room with body parts? Are you serious? lool. I want to check it out. Where is it?

[BackDoorEntry]

(Original post by X_mark_the_spot)
I actually heard from someone that King's has one of the best law departments in the country, on par with UCL. Is that true?

I don't know about law sorry. But one thing I heard that's stayed in my mind for a while is that QMUL has a top class law department. QMUL?!

[HRH2]

(Original post by X_mark_the_spot)
Your opinion seems to be a bit biased though . No worries, I'm not looking at King's but I'm just surprised to see people talking down about it since I've heard many good things about the uni over here. Oh well, I guess league tables and word of mouth don't tell the whole story. Those are still pretty decent rankings imo

Probably a bit biased yeah. And don't be nice. The UK rankings for KCL are just mediocre really. So for me its the European/ World Rankings that count. lol. Optimist. :P

[BackDoorEntry]

(Original post by HRH2)
Not top 3. The best. Really. Check Wikipedia. :P Anyway, what room with body parts? Are you serious? lool. I want to check it out. Where is it?

Lool i dno, I've been there about 3 times but i cant help think the medics got it far better there :P.
I think it's called Wolfson house? It's where I had my interview and they show you on the open days. My friend and I were looking at the whale penis and our tour group left us behind haha