In the United Kingdom, multiple University and college rankings are in circulation. Two of the mayor sources use quite different methodology. Where the Guardian University Guide for example looks into job prospects, the Times Good University Guide 2008 looks into Student satisfaction. We will now first show you the methodology and result for the Guardian ranking. Following that, we will look into the Times ranking. We then can see if the difference in methodology results in a different ranking order.
What they look at - Guardian University Guide
| Teaching quality (10%) | Feedback (5%) | Spending per student (17%) | Staff/student ratio (17%) | Job prospect (17%) | Value added (17%) | Entry score (17%) |
What they came up with - Guardian University Guide
1. Oxford
2. Cambridge
3. London School of Economics
4. Warwick
5. St Andrews
6. Imperial College
7. University College London
8. SOAS
9. Edinburgh
10. Loughborough
What they look at - Times Good University Guide 2008
| Student satisfaction | Research | Entry standards | Student/staff ration | Library and computer spending | Facility spending | Good honors | Graduate prospects | Completion |
What they came up with - Times Good University Guide 2008
1. Oxford
2. Cambridge
3. Imperial College
4. London School of Economics
5. St Andrews
6. University College London
7. Warwick
8. Bristol
9. Durham
10. King's College London
Conclusions
After comparing the results of the wto ranking lists, it becomes apparent that the outcome has quite a few differences. Although Oxford and Cambridge come out as number one and two in both systems, there is quite a bit of disagreement over, for example Warwick university, ending up on place 4 according to the Guardian, and place 7 according to the Times. This does not mean that one ranking is better than the other. Once again, this comparisons goes to show that it is important to look into the methodology used by a university or college ranking, because the outcome can be quite different. when using ranking lists to choose your next institution for higher eduction, look at those rankings that measure what you find important in a school. The Best University is a good starting point for this research.
