The whole truth about rankings of British universities

Many people interested in studying in the United Kingdom base their choices on all kinds of rankings. If you have ever wondered about their reliability and truthfulness as well as whether and when to look at them, then sit back comfortably and read the article below, which will dispel all your doubts.

Various rankings

Some rankings focus solely on student satisfaction, which is very subjective, or the modernity of campuses, while others are guided primarily by facts and numbers.

In our opinion, the most reliable ranking of British universities is THE Complete University Guide (by Times Higher Education).

As for the second most popular ranking – The Guardian, the matter looks as follows. Primarily considered are aspects such as student satisfaction or the modernity of the campus. Unfortunately, such an approach leads to the following situation: among the top fifteen, one can find a good university, which should actually be around the 40-60th place. An example is Coventry University. The university has very low admission thresholds thanks to which applicants do not expect anything special, and when they start their studies, they are fascinated by the modern buildings of this quite new university. This later translates into the university's place in rankings like the Guardian's.

Criteria that guide every ranking

Classifications of British universities usually use various criteria, however, they always agree on a few of them. Here they are:

• Student satisfaction - a very helpful indicator that describes how students perceive their everyday life at a given university. It is worth remembering that the results do not differ significantly and are very subjective.
• Initial grades – this factor has a huge impact on the university's ranking in the table, however, many people believe that the grades a student comes to university with do not affect how they will fare during their studies. The entry requirements of British higher education institutions are often much lower than the results achieved by applicants, therefore it is not worth following this indicator.
• The student-to-faculty ratio - a helpful estimate of how much the university invests in its staff. However, remember that this criterion will not tell you who will be teaching you, or how many hours you will be spending at the university as part of a given course of study.
• Post-graduation prospects – these numbers give you a quick overview of what the career of alumni from a given institution looks like 6 months after its completion.

What is worth remembering?

• Before making a final decision regarding the choice of a university, it is worth paying attention to the sources from which the information comes. Opinions collected from individual agencies or employers are certainly more neutral than the reactions of students specified in surveys.
• Rankings do not always reflect the current situation of a given university. They often do not take into account the ongoing changes that can significantly affect the university's position in the table.
• Apart from university rankings, you can also find program rankings. This is a very important thing, because often a weaker university may specialize in a given field (such as law, economics, or journalism), while another, seemingly prestigious school, does not offer high-quality teaching of the same program.
• How well a university is doing is just as important as whether and what progress it has made over the last year. Every ranking shows the place of universities from the previous year, thanks to which you will quickly find out whether the school you chose focuses on development or is perhaps more conservative in its actions.
• The most important criterion when choosing a university should be the so-called course content, which means what modules the university offers for a given field of study. Unfortunately, such information can only be found on the websites of individual universities. 

Ranking is not everything

How to choose and get into the best universities in the United Kingdom?

To choose the best possible university for oneself, it is also worth focusing on the cost of living in the given city, its size, the distance from the nearest airport, or job opportunities. The ranking should be merely one of many sources of knowledge about the university.

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