SERIOUS issue regarding the U of Manchester.

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Here we go again, like this hasn't been discussed before....

First of all, how is it "serious"?

Secondly, they are only league tables. They've only existed for fifteen years, higher education managed without them.

Thirdly, they are completely different league tables and look at completely different things. It's therefore not suprising that there's a difference. The THES tables are biased towards the larger universities (eg. Manchester), those that are very research intensive, particularly in the sciences (again, like Manchester). This isn't really the case with the domestic tables, at least not to such an extent. Likewise, the domestic league tables often include things like student satisfaction and entry standards which, as far as I'm aware, the THES rankings don't. It's therefore not suprising that they differ so much.

The domestic rankings use the old (2001) RAE score. This is very out of date and even more so with Manchester (as it predates the creation of the "University of Manchester" as we know it post-2004). Before then it was the UMIST and Victoria University of Manchester, two seperate institutions. Since they've united it has created a new (and very large) research powerhouse. See the new RAE results, published just the other day. This will not be reflected in the new domestic tables next year. Manchester will probably climb a few places then.

Finally, just because a university is ranked 27th (or whatever) in a league table it doesn't mean there's a significant difference between number 12 and number 30 (something I've just been discussing in another thread).

This only goes to show that league tables are nothing more than a collection of what can, at times, seem like a random collection of statistics and factors, weighted in various different ways.

University of Manchester

Manchester

Reply 21

JoeJBB

I'm finding it hard to think of a less serious issue regarding the U or Manchester

Reply 22

Keano_The_King

Pillar of Autumn

HOW is the U of Manchester ranked 29th in the THE world rankings.
And only 27th in the domestic one?

Because they are judged on different things. The domestic one's are the worst you can look at. They judge things such as entry requirements, graduate prospects and funding. Things that, by no means, makes a university better or worse. For example, graduate prospects just means how much money the average graduate has made. So for uni's like manchester where a lot of students are from other countries, the foreign students go back to their countries and any income they receive isn't counted.
You should just judge uni's on their reputation with employers and check they're redbrick uni's.

Reply 23

faber niger

bradburyj

because the world rankings are based more on opinion and the domestic one is based more on figures, thats what a friend just told me, could be completely wrong

No, that certainly isn't the case; league tables may not be very accurate, but they're never based on opinion. I believe that the world rankings are linked more to research than the domestic ones.

Reply 24

fredesere

I think its ranked 29 on the international tables because its more recognized internationally, and the uk tables its ranked where it is because of the factors that are used to put it in place, like student satisfaction, job prospects, teacher to student ratio e.t.c and so its not really where it should be, I tend to take the international ones more seriously!