Guardian League Table 2024

Top 10:

1. St Andrews
2. Oxford
3. Cambridge
4. London School of Economics
5. Imperial College London
6. Bath
7. Durham
8. UCL
9. Warwick
10. Loughborough

For the second year running, St Andrews tops the table.

Thoughts?

Full results https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2023/sep/09/the-guardian-university-guide-2024-the-rankings

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 1

rdotis

2

What I don't understand about the guardian rankings, is how do they rank Oxford and Cambridge if they have no student satisfaction data to go by?

Also, if the satisfaction data is simply based on feedback, the fact that places like imperial or UCL score worse is perhaps also a factor of higher expectations?

Just some thoughts.

Reply 2

Muttley79

20

Original post by Uni_student3132

Top 10:

1. St Andrews
2. Oxford
3. Cambridge
4. London School of Economics
5. Imperial College London
6. Bath
7. Durham
8. UCL
9. Warwick
10. Loughborough

For the second year running, St Andrews tops the table.

Thoughts?

Full results https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2023/sep/09/the-guardian-university-guide-2024-the-rankings

Don't take any notice as they can't be replicated - it's fiction

Reply 3

Uni_student3132

OP

12

Original post by Muttley79

Don't take any notice as they can't be replicated - it's fiction

It's not complete fiction considering they haven't made up the information used and there is clearly a pattern with many of the better universities being higher, but I agree that it shouldn't be relied upon and treated as gospel. It is a good marketing thing for universities as well.

Reply 4

Uni_student3132

OP

12

St Andrews has also been placed first in the Sunday Time university rankings.

https://news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/historic-double-first-for-st-andrews/

Reply 5

Muttley79

20

Original post by Uni_student3132

It's not complete fiction considering they haven't made up the information used and there is clearly a pattern with many of the better universities being higher, but I agree that it shouldn't be relied upon and treated as gospel. It is a good marketing thing for universities as well.

It's statistically unsound - they do not explain entodology - it would fail a GCSE stats coursework requirements

Reply 6

fedora34

10

Pay no attention to rankings.

When I started my undergrad, the Times national rankings said my university was the 9th best university in the UK, while the Times international rankings said it was the 5th best university in the world, just behind Oxford and ahead of Cambridge and Imperial, making it the second highest ranked university in the UK.

So in one year the same newspaper said it was simultaneously the 2nd best and 9th best university in the UK. They are completely arbitrary.

Reply 7

crustylaw

5

Original post by fedora34

Pay no attention to rankings.

When I started my undergrad, the Times national rankings said my university was the 9th best university in the UK, while the Times international rankings said it was the 5th best university in the world, just behind Oxford and ahead of Cambridge and Imperial, making it the second highest ranked university in the UK.

So in one year the same newspaper said it was simultaneously the 2nd best and 9th best university in the UK. They are completely arbitrary.

Agree that rankings should be taken with a huge grain of salt, but I would not mix domestic and international rankings, as they seek to capture different things--one with a focus on undergraduates, and the other with a focus on graduate level+ research. For example, the domestic rankings consider the academic credentials of the undergraduate population, undergraduate student satisfaction with teaching and the like, and how undergraduates fare post-graduation. The international rankings, on the other hand, focus much more on factors such as research (of the type that would generally not be produced by undergraduates). So, it's certainly possible to the 2nd best in one measure and the 9th best in another. Kudos to your uni for being very strong in both measurements.

(edited 2 months ago)

Guardian League Table 2024

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Trending

Latest