The bumper thread of University League Tables discussion - includes an info post

Oxford
Cambridge
LSE
UCL
Durham
KCL

Oxford
Cambridge
LSE
UCL
Durham
KCL

as the thread title asks, name the top 6 universities in the UK, in order. Thanks

Could anyone give me the top 20 universities for English at The Times, please?

It'll be much appreciated.

No LSE?

Doesn't teach it. For the same reason no Imperial

Times 2012 English league table:

1 University of Oxford
2 University of Cambridge
3 University College London
4 Durham University
5 The University of Warwick
6 University of Exeter
7 The University of York
8 University of St Andrews
9 Queen Mary, University of London
10 The University of Nottingham
11 University of Leicester
12 University of Leeds
13 Loughborough University
14 Lancaster University
15 University of Liverpool
16 University of Southampton
17 The University of Edinburgh
17 University of Glasgow
19 University of Sussex
20 Newcastle University

Out of a total 101 listed UK institutions

I have no idea why people even read or listen to these rankings, do any of you even understand the poor methodology behind them? If you want a real judge of how "good" academically a university is; look at the academics that are there, are there any notable academics, what are they currently researching, is it at the frontier of that subject or is it lagging behind and how much funding does the academic institution get from both government and private investors. You should never read these rankings, you should do your own research with those questions in mind rather than making silly mistakes.

Times 2012 English league table:

1 University of Oxford
2 University of Cambridge
3 University College London
4 Durham University
5 The University of Warwick
6 University of Exeter
7 The University of York
8 University of St Andrews
9 Queen Mary, University of London
10 The University of Nottingham
11 University of Leicester
12 University of Leeds
13 Loughborough University
14 Lancaster University
15 University of Liverpool
16 University of Southampton
17 The University of Edinburgh
17 University of Glasgow
19 University of Sussex
20 Newcastle University

Out of a total 101 listed UK institutions

I don't really follow these league tables but out of interest, what position does Sheffield come for Biosciences?

University of Sheffield is 3rd out of a total of 87 on the 2012 Times Bioscience league table. Only Oxford and Cambridge are higher.

Seriously? That's quite impressive if we're being ranked ahead of the likes of Imperial, UCL, Bristol etc. Perhaps there's more meaning to these league tables after all

In defence of my fellow TSRians, I think many, if not most, are well aware of the limitations of ranking tables. However, your methodology has equal limitations. Many "star" academics have little or no involvement with undergraduate teaching and except to some degree in the physical sciences the skill of accessing research funds also has little impact on the undergraduate experience.

Funding has a huge impact on a undergraduate,