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THE Table of Tables
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'Table of tables' offers sector clearer picture
24 September 2009
Combined ranking provides more comprehensive view of institutions' progress. Hannah Fearn reports
With so many national newspaper league tables, it can be difficult to keep track of the results.
But 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.
By assigning points to each institution in the top 40 of each table, an overall ranking for the universities scored highly by the four newspapers has been collated - although Times Higher Education acknowledges the methodological limitations.
Paul Wellings, vice-chancellor of Lancaster University, and chair of the 1994 Group, said the table was useful to the sector.
"All the tables are flawed, but if you look at them in general, you can start to see some particularly clear patterns," he said.
Bringing the results together helps to limit fluctuations caused by the introduction or variable weighting of different measurements, including the National Student Survey (NSS) results, he added.
There are few surprises at the top. As was the case last year, the University of Oxford is in first place, followed by the University of Cambridge. But there are some significant changes further down.
The London School of Economics has fallen from third to seventh place, while the University of Edinburgh has risen from 15th to 11th. Many of the major civic universities, including Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, fall outside the top 20.
Professor Wellings said that this was because student-satisfaction ratings tended to be higher at campus-based institutions.
"I suspect that is to do with the way that the NSS now drives so much perception," he added.
Heriot-Watt University has entered the top 40 at number 36.
"We believe this reflects our successes in the RAE 2008, the quality and employability of our graduates, whose courses include practical training and entrepreneurialism throughout, and our international profile," a spokeswoman for the institution said.
Wendy Piatt, director-general of the Russell Group, said she was "delighted" to see its members continue to excel.
"It is because Russell Group graduates are entrepreneurial, good at problem-solving and able to work both independently and within a team that they continue to be held in high esteem," she said.
But she has reservations about any league table's methodology.
"Categorising universities on a few subjective criteria can be misleading," she said.
hannah.fearn@tsleducation.com.
Readers' comments
It is disappointing to see the Vice Chancellor of a distinguished university endorsing a commercial product that by its disregard of the scholarship of league tables, which draws attention both to the many methodological flaws and the dangers to diversity, makes a mockery of all that universities like his stand for.
What/who is the 'source'? - as in 'a source has amalgamated the available data [...]'?? Does this 'source' have any relation to the source(s)/consultancy 'attached' to 'a university' which regularly trumpets its 'Top Ten' status, whose DVC is Chairman of the Board of said 'independent consultancy'? This sort of journalism is the reason why such practices go on without a murmur of conflict of interest...
I agree with anon, although I doubt that the source is the one referred to - but who knows? Worth noting that the new Chair of UUK is also linked (as it is part of the same University and shares its name) to the "arms length independent consultancy" in question which produces the Times Rankings, and which said University is miraculously top 10 in. Many of us in HE feel that there is a conflict of interest here - you can't ethically, seriously trumpet your top 10 status in a highly influential Times ranking produed by a company based on your campus and with the same name as your University can you?.
What the hell has happened to Nottingham. 19th is a massive drop from where it has ranked in the past. Up until a couple of years ago it was never outside the top 13/14 in cumulative rankings. Sadly its reputation amongst school leavers seems to be plummeting along with its ranking. Its a shame because it seems the heads of Nottingham dont realize the influence league tables have on prospective students. (although with its significant drop in tariff and applications per place ratio you think they would)
Agree totally with bill fairbanks apparently nottingham had a "2007-2010"plan for the university!! one would have thought it was to make nottingham a more popular institution but whatever the "plan" was it seems to be having the opposite affect.Tarriff points down,firsts 2.1 down etc all british and worldwide league tables down,etc etc Good work to the powers that be that you can acheive this in a matter of a couple of years i feel sorry for students who went there in 2005 (a top 10/12 uni) and left 2009 from a university struggling to stay in top 20 through no fault of their own its the only russell group that has seen such a drop and i know current students are quite alarmed by this sudden drop many saying they would not have gone there had they had any inclination this would happen one can only hope that the heads of nottingham are now very aware of what is happenning and quickly resolve this issue!!!!!