UK Uni Ranking Focuses On Student Satisfaction

The UK’s Guardian newspaper has published its UK 2016 university league tables, and there’s little surprise at the top.

Cambridge, Oxford and St Andrews in Scotland, came first to third respectively, with Cambridge scoring a perfect 100 in the ‘Guardian score.’

Others did well across the scoring system, with Bath University scoring the highest (93.2) for student course satisfaction. Oxford University rated the highest amongst students for teaching satisfaction, while Gloucester was voted the university with the highest 'value add.'

Imperial College scored a massive 89.9 for likelihood of a career within six months of graduation- beating everyone including both Oxford and Cambridge.

The Guardian claims these rankings are more comprehensive that other ranking systems currently available- saying, “ other university league tables focus on research scores. We don’t, because they are not important to students. We keep our eye firmly on what universities can do for you.”

The paper goes on to say, “students need to know how good the teaching is. Will they get regular feedback on their work? What do other students think of the course? And do they stand a good chance of finding a job when they graduate? Answers to all these questions are contained in our tables.”

The paper used Intelligent Metrix- an independent consultancy to rank student experience, measuring factors such as: percentage of final-year students satisfied with overall quality, teaching quality and a feedback score which, is a percentage of final-years satisfied with feedback and assessment by lecturers.

While more conventional aspects are covered such as staff-student ratio, the amount of money spent by the university on each student and the typical UCAS scores of students currently studying in that department, the ranking does, interestingly, look at each university’s ‘value-add’ score plus the percentage of graduates who find graduate-level jobs, or are studying further, within six months of graduation.

'To view the ranking visit: www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2015/may/25/university-league-tables-2016