When we speak to students, it seems almost instinctive for students to filter universities by rankings as their first step of research.
It’s a valid first step to take. However, there are factors beyond rankings that we would advise students to take into consideration when researching for universities to apply to. Among these factors are university environment, location, fees, and available scholarships.
Rankings only reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the universities to a certain extent. Note that the methodologies that were used to come up with these rankings can be subjective.
Rankings play a role in determining the strength of the universities, in the subject that the students are aiming to study. The strengths are categorised in terms of:
- student satisfaction
- entry requirements
- staff-to-student ratio
- the facilities and services on offer to students
- quality of research produced by the academics
- the number of graduates who finished with First Class degrees
- students’ destinations upon graduation
In the UK, the three major guide for university rankings are The Complete University Guide, The Guardian and The Times & The Sunday Times. These rankings are compiled and published annually via printed media and their websites.
The popular world university ranking publications are QS World University Rankings® and Times Higher Education. These are normally referred to by the government sponsors to establish the year’s selected universities to send students to. The rankings can be viewed by overall universities in a specific country or region; as well as by subject or by university name. The rankings are available on their respective websites.
On top of these, there are other rankings such as Modern Universities Guide, regional rankings, The Complete University Guide, UKuni, and many more on the internet.
We would advise you to look into various outcomes of the different rankings.
Have more questions about studying in the UK?
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