University Rankings: Oxford and Cambridge Fall Behind for the First Time
Each year, the Times and the Sunday Times collaborate to put out the extensive “Good University Guide”. In the guide’s 30-year history, Oxford and Cambridge have never been beaten to the top spot. (buy modafinil canada reddit) But for the first time ever, The Scottish institution St Andrews was able to snatch that #1 spot, largely thanks to its consistently outstanding levels of student satisfaction.
St Andrews has been homing in on the top of the rankings for several years. But the university now holds a huge lead over rival universities in two GUG measures derived from the annual National Student Survey (NSS), covering teaching quality and student experience.
According to its website, St Andrews is “the most international of Scotland’s universities and one of the most international in the UK. There are more than 130 countries represented in the 2020-2021 student population”.
The university’s demographic profile is made up of over 45% of students and staff coming from outside the UK.
The Updated Good University Guide
(1) University of St Andrews
(2) University of Oxford
(3) University of Cambridge
(4) Imperial College London
(5) London School of Economics and Political Science
(6) Durham University
(7) University College London
(8) University of Warwick
(9) University of Bath
(10) Loughborough University
This year’s ranking saw some differences to sharp declines in student satisfaction with their universities’ management of the #coronavirus, except for St. Andrews. Moreover, the Scottish school achieves top-ten ratings for degree completion rates, the proportion of high-class degrees awarded, staffing levels and the average spend on services and facilities per student.
Students at Cambridge and Oxford have boycotted the NSS since 2016. Therefore, GUG analysts relied on their last known ratings from 2016 and applied an average review to those numbers based on the overall decline in student satisfaction in the years since.
University of the Year awards
Apart from the general GUG ranking and the victorious St. Andrews, the guide holds several sub-awards. Among them is the “University of the Year”, which is divided into several categories. #Imperial College London has become the 20th university to win the University of the Year title since it was established in 1999. Followed by University of #Warwick, and the universities of #EdgeHill, #Ulster and #York.
The University of Glasgow won the title of University of the Year in Scotland, while Cardiff achieved it in Wales. Other universities won the title of “University of the Year” based on other classifications, including:
Sports: Loughborough University
Social Inclusion: Teesside University
Teaching Quality: University of Warwick
Student Experience: Imperial College London
Graduate Employment: University of Surrey
Student Retention: University of Sussex
The Best Universities by Subject
In addition to the institutional ranking, the Times published a new suite of 67 subject tables identifying centres of excellence within British universities. The rankings are based on student satisfaction with teaching quality and their wider university experience, research quality, entry standards and graduate prospects.
Cambridge is the most successful university at subject level, topping 22 of the 67 tables, followed by St Andrews (seven), Oxford (six), and Glasgow, Imperial College London and Strathclyde (three each).
Source: The Times, Sunday Times.
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