Which ranking do I follow?!

dni2011

There are so many types of ranking, uk, worldwide, and many others!! which one is the most important???????

Rankings are to give you a rough estimate of the overall universities standing. They should not be the main reason why you choose a university over another. Don't forget, by the time you graduate these rankings definitely change.

If you look at different rankings (QS or Times), the rankings are not exactly the same but relatively similar. It's not like a place is in the top 5 in one ranking and over 100 in another.

thanx

This is a hard question to be honest. Different rankings use the measurements they think are most important. As a results, the ranking for each uni always varies from one ranking to another. I agree with the above post that it will only gives you an idea of where the university stands in terms of its reputation in general. Many people on here think that Times is the best league table to follow, but I just think they all are just as worse as each other. :P

I only use subject table which is more specific, I think it tells me more about the course and the university. But you might say differently. :smile:

Reply 4

dni2011

wats the subject table....my major is civil engineering

Reply 5

street.lovin'

Original post by dni2011

wats the subject table....my major is civil engineering

Oh the subject table is basically the league table that shows the ranking for each university in the UK for one subject. For example, there is a subject table for just Engineering etc. It is useful if you use it just to see which uni is great for your course. However, I think the main disadvantage is that the ranking tends to generalize the similar courses such as they often put International Relations under Politics league table when the university that is not good at International Relations but very good at Politics can climb up the league table very highly. As a result, it may give you misleading information. But, don't all rankings do that these days?! :smile:

Reply 6

shiny

Are you studying in the UK? Engineering is regulated much more than other subjects in that most universities try to get accreditation by the national Engineering institutions (in your case ICE and IStructE). Accreditation requires an engineering programme specification to specifically incorporate certain elements of study and various quality control and assurance measures. As a result, there is a certain degree of uniformity in the type of engineering education you will receive in the UK especially in the first two years. Civil Engineering at one accredited one institution is pretty much the same as any other accredited civil engineering course elsewhere.

Choice of university (in academic terms) is therefore more about what type of students you want to work alongside (do you want an institution where the student intake is drawn from the top 1% or top 10% of school leavers) and any particular third or fourth year specialisations which will be institutional specific. If you look at university rankings/tables for Civil Engineering, the rankings largely follow the ranking by average entry tariff with a few exceptions where a particular compiler has given certain universities a "value added" score.