Are Oxford and Cambridge the only UK universities that matter?

Then if you're doing wooden furniture design, sure. If you're doing business management, Bucks isn't going to get you anywhere fast.

Relative to the rest of the world, I would say yes.


On a world stage you could include LSE and arguably UCL but other than that.. the other institutions don't hold nearly as much clout.

Business management isn't a real degree

You can have that prejudice if you wish but most of the leading universities joined that particular bandwagon years ago.

Moreover the employment statistics for arts degrees from good universities are starting to look worrying compared with degrees in business from weaker ones. That may be purely the effect of the economic situation over the last few years but it may well be that businessmen are tiring of offering grad scheme positions to folk who can't read a balance sheet.

For example you have 37% of Manchester's history graduates in professional or managerial employment 6 months after graduation; you have 38% of Manchester Met's business studies graduates in the same position. However if you look at the quality of the intake for those degres, there would be no comparison between the two.

i'd say oxford, cambridge, ucl and imperial are on the world stage, but little else.

What university students think the university rankings are, if you're interested:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2799301&p=49487013#post49487013

On the world stage and in the eyes of foreign employers.

I'm a girl, but thanks.

On the world stage and in the eyes of foreign employers.

A history degree has no real prospects...it is a useless degree

Business management isn't a real degree

A history degree has no real prospects...it is a useless degree

Guess my history degree I'll get in 3 years time from Oxford will be "useless" and have "no real prospects". Oh well.

Nope.

It's not the uni itself that matters most, it's what you do there.

Also, some universities that are generally considered crappy have specialities such as primary education or games development.

However, there are limits. You're not going to convince me that Bucks New Uni is a good university (the irony that it's currently advertised on the top of the screen).

Guess my history degree I'll get in 3 years time from Oxford will be "useless" and have "no real prospects". Oh well.

Have a look at the stats.

The average unemployment rate for people aged 18-24 is 14.9%. The average unemployment rate for recent Oxford history graduates is 11%. There is clearly a 3.9% advantage from being an Oxford history graduate.

https://unistats.direct.gov.uk/subjects/employment/10007774FT-V100/ReturnTo/Search