Table of table of tables

Table of tables

A composite university league table derived from the four domestic league tables has been prepared by THE.

It is presented as a real labour-saving device:

With so many national newspaper league tables, it can be difficult to keep track of the results.

Certainly can, but luckily

a source has amalgamated the available data for Times Higher Education to produce the definitive table of tables. It combines rankings produced by The Independent, The Guardian, The Times and The Sunday Times.

The results are…

1 Oxford
2 Cambridge
3 Imperial
4 StAndrews
5 Warwick
6 UCL
7 LSE
8 Durham
9 York
10 Bath
11 Edinburgh
12= Exeter
12= Loughborough
14 Southampton
15 Bristol
16 King’s College
17= Lancaster
17= Leicester
19 Nottingham
20 Glasgow

So, no huge surprises there. Wisely though, THE “acknowledges the methodological limitations”. Bit of an understatement that.

New 2010 Independent University League Table

New Independent League Table just published for 2010

First of the season is out (Guardian and Times to follow in May) and not a huge amount to write home about. Bath, Edinburgh, Aston and Southampton all have reasons for contentment with good rises. Others will be less content about slippage.

1 Oxford (1)
2 Cambridge(2)
3 Imperial College (3)
4 London School of Economics (3)
5 Durham (6)
6 Warwick (5)
7 St Andrews (7)
8 University College London (8)
9 Bath (14)
10 York (11)
11 Edinburgh (21)
12 Lancaster (10)
13 Southampton (20)
13 Aston (23)
15 SOAS (9)
16 Bristol (16)
17 King’s College London (15)
18 Loughborough (13)
19 Nottingham (16)
20 Leicester (12)

Who wants to be a millionaire? Or is a university degree worth the effort?

Clearly not worth bothering according to the Independent

Are degrees worth the paper they’re printed on? Once, a university education was a passport to a brighter future, a better-paid career, a life of privilege. But after a decade and a half of massive expansion in our higher education system, the ‘gold standard’ qualification is losing its lustre. Is it time for a rethink?

But what exactly is the rethink/alternative proposed here? What we have is a set of observations about the fact that studying at university is not free, that not all graduates enjoy above average earnings within a year of graduating, that parents feel they should support their offspring, that many students work for extra money during their courses and that there is a general view that the degree classification system is not terribly helpful for differentiating performance. And that’s not all:

High-street banks have stopped offering students juicy incentives to sign up for new accounts; last year, banks were offering iPods to new customers, but now offers are more modest, such as free travel insurance or a national railcard.

But iPods are already ubiquitous. A railcard is likely to be worth more to many students than a second iPod. This is hardly revolutionary stuff. But hang on. The big question here is who needs a degree anyway? When we look at the list of successful people named here – Philip Green, Richard Branson, Katie Price, Barclay brothers, Ann Gloag – all of whom are fabulously wealthy – it seems there is a clear message from the Indy: don’t waste your time studying for a degree and you are just certain to be a billionaire. Easy.

New Indy University League Table

New league table from the Independent

(It appears that the authors of the Good University Guide (previously with the Times) have found a new home.)

Some quite large movers in (and out) of the top 20:

Significant risers include SOAS, up 15 places to 9th this year; Lancaster, up 9 places to 10th; Glasgow up 14 places to joint 16th; Leicester, up 8 places to 12th. Bristol drops 9 places to joint 16th; Aston drops 11 places to 23rd; Royal Holloway drops 9 places to 22nd.

Full top 20 (with last year’s rank in brackets) as follows:
1 (2) – Oxford
2 (1) – Cambridge
3= (4) – LSE
3= (3) – Imperial
5 (8th) – Warwick
6 (10) – Durham
7 (5) – St Andrews
8 (6) – UCL
9 (24) – SOAS
10 (19) – Lancaster
11 (14)- York
12 (20) – Leicester
13 (11) – Loughborough
14 (9) – Bath
15 (17) – King’s College London
16= (14) – Nottingham
16= (7) – Bristol
16= (30) – Glasgow
19 (17) – Exeter
20 (20) – Southampton

(with acknowledgments to Tim Utton, Communications, for doing the sums)