Overview

It’s time to look at rankings in more detail. There are lots and lots of rankings published by different organisations, using different methodology and coming out with different results. 

It is important to recognize the rankings are not only a means for students to seek out ‘the best university’ they are also used by the universities themselves as a means to drive improvement:

Rankings encourage universities to establish partnerships with universities of common interest; partnerships between universities are usually forged between universities of a similar ranking or between universities that specialize in a particular subject area.

Rankings can also support decision-making policy and drive improvement. Rankings help the management of the university develop in specific areas.

The devil is in the detail… and the methodology!

Having got that out of the way, let us now turn our attention to rankings from the student’s perspective. There is little dispute that rankings are contentious, and with good cause: students glance at several different rankings and they quickly discover a degree of discrepancy between them.

E.g. Oxford University is ranked Number 5 by QS rankings and Number 1 by The Guardian University Rankings. 

Most people would agree that Oxford is a top university, but how many universities are above Oxford, better than Oxford? Look at the Guardian rankings and the answer is none, look at the QS rankings and the answer is four.

Understandably students are puzzled and confused, most just want a quick answer, look at the numbers and find the best university.

However, in order to understand this it’s important to look at the methodology that has been used to compile the different rankings. (See below for detailed examples)

Universities are operating in a competitive market. Previously, universities found themselves competing with other universities within their own country, however with the globally mobile customer base (students), universities have responded by seeking to recruit  students from outside their own country, and using worldwide rankings is part of their recruitment strategy.

I’m sure you want to hear which rankings are the best, which are the most reliable, which  will help you identify the top university you want to apply to? Which rankings will show you the most prestigious universities, which will lead you to a top career? Or maybe you just want to find the happiest university. Yes, that’s in the rankings too.

Most rankings now explain the methodology they used, however that does not alter the fact that most students are busy and only glance at the numbers, not what lies behind them. So now we are going to  have a look at the pros and cons of some of the better-known rankings.

With so  many different rankings, most universities can pluck a number from somewhere and splash it over their homepage as a powerful piece of marketing to attract the unwary and incurious. After all, most students will just glance at the number and think, ‘great, it’s No. 7’ but what does No.7 mean, what methodology was used to compile the rankings, how many universities are being compared, is it worldwide, continent wide, countrywide, limited by size of university? You can even read numbers that say something along these lines, ‘we are ranked No. 6  in the second 100 universities’. Yes, this really means they are ranked number 106. However, the number 6 is splashed on the homepage in large font and catches the reader’s eye.

If you are a student using rankings, then there are two areas which are particularly worth careful investigation.

The methodologies of the different sites

In country rankings v. worldwide ranking

Have you decided which country you want to study in? If yes then you can just focus on the ratings for that country. The advantage in doing this is that you will see a broader range of universities that have been included in the rankings compared to worldwide rankings.

As an example, compare The Guardian University Rankings (UK) with the QS Rankings (worldwide).

The Guardian rankings will give more information on teaching quality and student satisfaction, these are important for you as a student. Many rankings focus on factors such as research, financial investment, departmental citations etc. These may not be so immediately relevant to you as a prospective undergraduate student; however they do form part of the methodology used by many rankings.

Students probably care more about the quality of teaching and how employable they will be upon graduation. The UK has taken steps to address these issues. The TEF is targeted at undergraduate students concerns.

The new Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) ranks UK universities as  gold, silver or bronze based on the quality of their teaching, learning and student experience.

TEF 

Specialist rankings e.g. business universities.

There are rankings that only address a specialist area e.g.

Bloomberg business-schools rankings

Overall rankings v. subject rankings

Most rankings will allow you to use a filter to see where the best universities are for your subject.  This begs the question: should I focus on the institution’s overall ranking, or just my course?

Well, the answer mainly depends on what your priorities are as a student. If making yourself as employable as possible is your main reason for going to university, it is probably best to focus on the institution’s reputation.   At the end of the day, future employers are unlikely to know exactly which universities are best for which courses. Although if you are studying an industry-specific subject, this may not be an issue E.g. law firms and engineering companies will most likely know where the best teaching is to be found.  However, if you are going to university to become an expert in your field, beginning your journey to becoming an academic or are studying a career-specific course, choosing your subject based on course rankings is your best option.

The problem of ranking for distance learning courses.

This is a relatively new area that has thrust itself to the fore since the beginning of the Covid19 pandemic. Until now remote learning has not featured prominently in the methodology applied to university rankings. This is largely new territory and if you as a student are considering a distance learning course then clearly you will have different priorities, particularly in the area of student experience/student satisfaction;  but the end result will remain the same, obtaining a degree that will serve you well in your career.

Summing it all up

As we started by posing the question, ’How accurate/ useful are rankings?’ we need to come to some sort of conclusion. Having looked at the pros and cons it is clear that there is a great deal of scope to interpret rankings in a way that shows the university or course in a positive light. In other words, it is a powerful marketing tool. But how does this help a student decide which university to apply to because at the end of the day rankings, and many other factors, are all part a wider decision-making process.

Having seen the discrepancies in rankings between different organizations, and noticed that a university that is No. 1 in one ranking, may struggle to get into the Top 10 in another ranking, we can conclude that rankings are a useful starting point, they show us in broad terms where are the Top 20 universities are, where the next 20 are etc.

And now to leave you with just a couple of thoughts:

Just because the university is ranked No.4, does not make it a better fit for you than the university ranked No. 9.

Have you only looked at the overall rankings, or did you also look at the subject rankings?

If you’re looking for a quick answer, or a number to support/ justify why you are going to apply to a university that you’ve already decided upon, and if you’re prepared to ignore the methodology used, then rankings provide an easy fix. Just glance at the attractive number and tell yourself that you will be studying at a top university. To be honest, this is as far as most students go with rankings.

And finally, rankings change year by year. Your dream university may be ranked No. 3 this year, but what will be its ranking be 4 years from now when you graduate? And supposing you don’t have enough IB points to get into your dream university. What then? You could apply to universities a little lower ranked, and always bear mind you will almost certainly be going to do a master’s degree, and this is when you can go to your dream university.

There is no best university, only the best fit for you.