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Disappointed by your English Course?

My University was just ranked #8 for my course (English Literature), which is quite good I suppose, but I'm struggling to understand why.

This year, for example, I had just 7 contact hours a week. Three of those hours were lectures (usually very good), the remaining four were for seminars (Which are usually just stilted round-table discussions, but I suppose that comes with the course).

I guess what I'm asking is: How exactly are University rankings produced, especially on a course-by-course basis? I've become pretty disillusioned with the whole University experience if I'm quite honest and seeing my University ranked fairy well seems bitter-sweet. Most of what I learn comes from my independent research and I've come to think of University as nothing more than a really expensive library card.
What exactly am I missing out on?

Here's the table anyways:

http://www.theguardian.com/education...ue-tables-2016

Reply 1

Roseland

League Tables are helpful in the same way that giving a movie a star rating is helpful. By this I mean that the numbers are neither quantifying anything tangible nor are they truly reflecting how subjective and fluid the individual indicators are. Take a five star review for Casablanca in which the critic states that "Its touch is featherlight and peerlessly entertaining. Any political message is delivered with a witty twist, like the bottle of Vichy water". I may object to this statement at any number of points (and critics have done so). Therefore the foundation of the review would be, in my case, misleading, and five stars would be so to an even greater extent. This isn't to offer an answer to your question as much as it is to preface an answer: it's not at all surprising that some undergraduates will find their opinions do not match up with those of other people and publications. In student satisfaction statistics, there are a very small few who tick dissatisfied after Oxford or Cambridge. These university reviews are not truly scientific, much less are they the be-all and end-all of university rankings.

Original post by Mr.Grieves

I guess what I'm asking is: How exactly are University rankings produced, especially on a course-by-course basis?

It depends on the publication. According to the following website, The Guardian League Tables have been notoriously open to revision: http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/guardian-league-tables/

The overall score which establishes where your university ranks on The Guardian League Table derives from a formula. The Guardian's formula takes all of the numbers in the individual indicators and creates an overall result. If we take my original analogy, this is like reviewing a film, giving it a star-score in individual categories, and then creating an overall star-score out of that. This may seem arbitrary. For the final output The Guardian's methodology is somewhat obscure, with the following link providing more information on how they derive the final number from all of the smaller ones. These percentages are why Sussex falls below Kent despite having a higher teaching satisfaction rating. http://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/may/12/university-guide-method

Finally, if you're confused about what all of these smaller numbers mean in the first place, these two links should help:

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/may/25/how-to-use-the-guardian-university-guide-2016
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/may/22/key-to-university-guide

Original post by Mr.Grieves

What exactly am I missing out on?

Last of all, here is what I think you may be missing: that your experience may well match up with what the league tables suggest. The tables assess whether teaching and feedback is good. You say your teachers and lectures are very good. I wouldn't surprised if, given the rather reductionist nature of the categories, your experience is actually close to what is reported across the board. Naturally, though, this doesn't ensure a great university experience and I'm not sure what to suggest if you feel you're not getting that.