The Student Room Group

The Bronze effect (TEF) on UCAS choices...

Poll

Did TEF Bronze Award affect your UCAS choices?

Wonkhe and a consortium of university student unions has been surveying students about the TEF.

Some key results include:
* 84% agreed the government should assess university teaching excellence,
* there is less support for the Gold/Silver/Bronze medals system of awards,
* there is strong opposition to any link to setting the tuition fee.

But one result is to do with the universities that had a Bronze Award in the TEF.

Did TEF affect your UCAS choices (or would have if you are already at uni)?

Please vote in the poll above before opening the spoiler :smile:

Lots of information about the TEF here

Spoiler



More info here:
http://wonkhe.com/blogs/what-sort-of-tef-do-students-really-want/

What do you make of TEF? Has it changed your UCAS choices?
Have you applied to any Bronze unis? If so, which one(s)...
(edited 6 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

*watching*
Reply 2
Original post by PQ
*watching*


And the proof (or otherwise) will be in the end of cycle reports per institution...
Original post by Doonesbury
And the proof (or otherwise) will be in the end of cycle reports per institution...


Southampton annouced 7% cuts in academic and support staff yesterday because they expect student numbers to fall over the next few years....

QS I think were throwing around graphics at wonkfest showing that it’s having an impact on international interest...which means the undergraduate TEF that only included international students in half the metrics could be hitting international postgraduate recruitment.
Didn't take it into consideration. I'm not the target audience for it and nor is any UK student. We know what is prestigious and what unis don't compare to the other russel group unis. It's for internationals.
Reply 5
Original post by PQ
Southampton annouced 7% cuts in academic and support staff yesterday because they expect student numbers to fall over the next few years....

QS I think were throwing around graphics at wonkfest showing that it’s having an impact on international interest...which means the undergraduate TEF that only included international students in half the metrics could be hitting international postgraduate recruitment.


Are they blaming TEF, rather than some external punchbag like Brexit?

And that's interesting about the postgrad effect, and I guess unsurprising. I wonder if the more famous names with Bronzes will be particularly impacted. Perhaps they will be forced to reduce international fees (for ug and pg) to compensate...
Reply 6
Original post by Appleorpear
Didn't take it into consideration. I'm not the target audience for it and nor is any UK student. We know what is prestigious and what unis don't compare to the other russel group unis. It's for internationals.


TEF is only of relevance to internationals? How so?

Doesn't the quality of their university's teaching make a difference to UK students?
Original post by Doonesbury
Are they blaming TEF, rather than some external punchbag like Brexit?

And that's interesting about the postgrad effect, and I guess unsurprising. I wonder if the more famous names with Bronzes will be particularly impacted. Perhaps they will be forced to reduce international fees (for ug and pg) to compensate...


It was hotcourses not QS.

https://twitter.com/aaronporter/status/927901060869574656

That’s not a brexit effect or it would hit all equally.
Reply 8


Hmm, that's a bit odd - I don't see TEF Awards as a filter (or sortable option) on https://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/ so I don't know why TEF would affect their users search behaviour that directly.
Original post by Doonesbury
Hmm, that's a bit odd - I don't see TEF Awards as a filter (or sortable option) on https://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/ so I don't know why TEF would affect their users search behaviour that directly.


I would guess it’s the influence of agents.
Loads of random places claim to have Gold TEF, I wouldn't take much stock in it that way around. As for bronze, it might've made me reconsider a little bit as bronze seems to be the equivalent of trash according to how TEF works.
A lot of the universities I've been interested in (eg Bangor, Surrey and Leeds) seem to have Gold, so I can't rightly complain. On the other hand a lot of universities did seem to have Gold so I'm not sure it means anything particularly grand.
I wouldnt put much weight on it atm as (at least at my university) not all departments were required to submit evidence towards the TEF and it just so happens the departments with the worst teaching (which funny enough are actually some of the more sort after courses here) didnt submit any evidence
This isn't really a problem for me. I'm applying to LSE - I think the modules offered in their course, their prestige and ranking in league tables far outweigh the Bronze Award they received.
Original post by Mystelle
This isn't really a problem for me. I'm applying to LSE - I think the modules offered in their course, their prestige and ranking in league tables far outweigh the Bronze Award they received.


I admire your ambition, but I would be careful - 6 people in my A2 class got into LSE, and 5 of them have since transferred. They have the lowest student satisfaction in the UK if I remember rightly, which is probably why they got the Bronze Award in the first place.
Original post by CastCuraga
I admire your ambition, but I would be careful - 6 people in my A2 class got into LSE, and 5 of them have since transferred. They have the lowest student satisfaction in the UK if I remember rightly, which is probably why they got the Bronze Award in the first place.


Yes I'm fully aware of LSE's embarassingly low student satisfaction score :smile: LSE isn't my first choice though, Exeter is.
Original post by Mystelle
Yes I'm fully aware of LSE's embarassingly low student satisfaction score :smile: LSE isn't my first choice though, Exeter is.


Ah, well fair enough - just didn't want you to go there and then discover it ^^; Good luck in either case! :smile:

(OT: Loving the Howl's Moving Castle avatar, good taste! :tongue: )
Reply 17
Original post by Retired_Messiah
Loads of random places claim to have Gold TEF, I wouldn't take much stock in it that way around. As for bronze, it might've made me reconsider a little bit as bronze seems to be the equivalent of trash according to how TEF works.


"Claim"? They either have it or not.

There's 60 Gold Award universities.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Doonesbury
"Claim"? They either have it or not.

There's 60 Gold Award universities.

Posted from TSR Mobile


Yeah soz I ****ed up a little, claim was the wrong word. Been writing a lot of essays where I don't actually know enough to hit the word count, yknow? What I meant was a bunch of unis that seem to be kinda trash have gold so it wouldn't really mean a lot to me.
All the unis I applied to were based on the location rather than TEF/league tables. The uni I study at is bronze/right at the bottom of the league table.

Quick Reply

Latest