Kingston or Roehampton?

Kingston University vs. Roehampton University for Social Sciences? Which one is better to attend?

I have received offers from both universities. Both are close to my home. Which one is a better quality university (I'm going to study one of the fields in social sciences).

Do those universities have a Royal Charter from the Privy Council? Are the lecturers of those universities graduates of prestigious universities? Was any of those universities involved in any scandal? How do they treat students? Which one is the most respected amongst the academic community? Which one of those is most likely to raise people's eyebrows after I graduate (in a positive way, as in 'Oh! You are a graduate of ........ ? Well done!' :smile:

Reply 1

Paeony

To be honest, there isn't a lot of difference between Kingston and Roehampton academically - both are 'newer' universities. The lecturers come from a wide variety of universities, both here and abroad. I can't say that I've heard anything about major scandals ...

In answer to your question about 'respect', it would be helpful to know exactly what you want to study. For example, Roehampton has recently been awarded a lot of money to establish a centre of excellence in human rights and citizenship, so those areas of its programme are very well respected. Equally, its education department has links with many universities here and abroad, and is very well known. As I'm not at Kingston, I honestly can't tell you much about there, although I know that their music and music technology departments are considered to be very good. As with all universities, both Roehampton and Kingston have areas of excellence and areas where they are not so good, so whether people will be impressed really does depend on what you study. However, in terms of rankings neither of these institutions is ranked particularly highly, and given the snobbery about universities (particularly on this board) this can be, in some people's eyes, a problem.

As for how the universities treat their students, well, that's a fairly subjective thing. I have friends at both Roehampton and Kingston, and tbh they all seem to have the same complaints about 'bad' aspects of the universities - not enough time with staff etc etc. Roehampton has a collegiate structure which adds a bit more of a community feel. It also has a fairly compact campus so you're never too far away from anything. One of the complaints I've heard about Kingston is that because it has quite a few campuses and residences spread about the town, it sometimes feels like it doesn't have much of a sense of being one university. However, I suppose how you feel about this depends on what you're looking for from your time at university. Obviously if you're not planning to live on campus then the 'community' might be less important to you.

Since you don't live too far away from either of these places, I really would suggest that you go and have a look around the campuses, go to the open days and make your own mind up. I think there's a Roehampton open day fairly soon.

Hope this helps!

Reply 2