AIBU to think going to an RG university means absolutely nothing

It's a very persuasive marketing tool but that's all, for the reasons people have given here. MN is a bit fixated by it, unfortunately. And I'd love to know what professional and external examining experience posters have to be able to state 'there are definitely differences in quality and standards'. Some of the RG places can be the biggest let downs on that score.

I went to one and it would have made no difference at all to my career path if I hadn’t.
HOWEVER, I did meet my very high earning now xH there and would probably not have met someone like him at a non RG (came from abroad to do his PhD there). I am very grateful for his high earnings which have meant I could leave the arsehole and the kids and I are well housed etc

Depends on the employer and field. My graduate employer was very fussy about the universities they were willing to take people from

From a job perspective it doesn’t matter as much as it used to, but culturally/socially it still does - I know people who reject an OLD match for going to the wrong type of university. After all, what could they possibly have in common (apparently)?

I went to a RG and it was great but not because it had the RG label. The RG universities literally self selected. It's not a marker of quality as assessed by any external criteria. Bloody good marketing though.

They really don’t. Half the unis in the Complete over all top 10 unis aren’t even Russel Group. Then you get individual courses which unis can score high in for some and not for others.

I would not say it means 'absolutely nothing' nor would I say it is the 'end all or be all'.

There is a big middle ground inhabited by careers for which RG does not matter as much as for certain elite careers or for vocational courses for which RG are not strong. Even within RG it is a broad church.

I would and have encouraged ds to go for best RG within his capabilities for his traditional/academic course, all things being equal.

I think it depends on what graduate profession you are going into. A lot give graduates tests and if you are extremely bright, you stand a better chance. I bet the traditional companies still favour the Russell Groups.

Most institutions that I've worked at recruit "institution blind" now in order to eliminate class bias.

I think Russel Group means very little now, unless you are talking about an elitist/classist field, where Russell Group alone won't be enough.

That said, they're full of high achievers, and, all being well, high achievers should continue to achieve highly. Nothing to do with the institution, all to do with capability

Never heard of it, and turns out I've attended two! Don't think it makes any difference at all.

But nobody care or knows and unis move up and down ratings lists. My husband recruits in his field and says it literally isn’t a factor in any way.

It’s a marketing ploy that has lost its edge as non RG universities and former polytechnics have proven their credentials. Nowadays kids look at the degree courses in a lot more granular detail. They are spending a lot of money and there are many more important considerations.

Depends on what you’re studying. You can study medicine at a poly and it makes no difference. Same with the allied health professions.
I imagine if you want to be some corporate high flyer in London in finance or law it matters though.

There's an old joke in US higher ed circles that you could take the students at Harvard Business School and lock them in a warehouse for two years instead of having them take classes and they'd still have great careers simply because the program is so selective.

Russell Grant' university 😂

After the 1980s third term Tory reforms devalued the word university (and indeed alongside it, vocational training), the RG seems to have replaced it for universities in high regard. No surprise that something came along to place some institutions above all others.

I put the 1980s reforms as the start of the decline in education in this country.

I did go to a RG uni, it was pretty important for my degree/career, most of the big companies recruit specifically from those uni’s which is exactly what I did.

For lots of courses it doesn’t matter though, I have 2 friends, both teachers at the same school, one went to RG one didn’t. DH has 2 friends both engineers, both currently working in the same job at the same place, one RG & one not.

YANBU, it's meaningless. There are no criteria the universities have to fulfill in order to belong to the Russell Group. They are just a bunch of institutions who got together and decided to form a group.

I went to TWO Russell group universities, and I think a similar number of people have been impressed by that.

I have a theory - not backed up by anything - that if you have the capability to get into a good university then it doesn’t actually matter whether you go to one or not. It’s that capability that employers are picking up on.

Of course, most people who can get into a good university do, but I still think there’s some kind of confounding effect going on with university reputation and individual ability.

Russell Group is a relatively meaningless term, because the universities in the "in" crowd get to define the critera.

They loosely define themselves according to how much of their income comes from research grants rather than teaching. However this isn't a great measure because universities have different balances of which subjects they are world-leading in, and some subjects attract bigger grants than others so the fact of whether or not the university has a strong medical school can affect whether a world-class humanities department is considered "Russell Group" which is silly.

Much better to look at the rankings for a particular subject. If your university is ranked in the top 10 for your subject, then it doesn't matter whether or not it is RG.

Ds didn’t go to a RG university, but chose the university that had the best business school near us. Hasn’t hindered his career, got a graduate job straight after uni and they are paying for his on the job qualifications to become chartered in his chosen career.

Clearly there are excellent universities that aren't RG. But that doesn't mean that it makes no difference which university you go to either - there are definitely differences between universities in quality and standards.

I don't think it matters outside of the super highly regarded ones, such as Oxbridge and Imperial.

I suspect if you want to do something like investment banking, it also matters.

I studied Genetics at York. Still couldn't get a graduate job. Then I retrained as a Mental Health nurse through Derby. For vocational degrees, it doesn't matter at all imo.