Are there any other 'prestigous' universities in the UK apart from from Oxbridge?

[mids2019]

Are there any other 'prestigous' universities in the UK apart from Oxbridge?

My daughter was watching some American teen thing yesterday on Netflix and there was girl who's entire future lay on getting into Yale and Ivy League entrance was the be all and end all for this particular group of teenagers.

I know the US has a different HE system and culture but do we still have similar views in the UK in 2022? If there are prestigious universities in the UK how would you define this prestige? If we only allow Oxbridge the prestige label does this mean anyone who wishes to go a prestigious university has one (or two) Oxbridge or busy type application experiences then that ship sails?

Or maybe prestige is an archaic class ridden concept that is fading this millennium?

I was drawn to one of the RG v other university discussions and it may appear that the RG is being used as an artificial label to convey prestige in an HE environment where competition for Oxbridge is more intense than ever.

Bust

I think LSE might also be impressive? Although nowhere as much as Oxbridge.

Obviously lots of other unis are really hard to get into but I guess you wouldn't stop in your tracks if you heard someone had been to Edinburgh or Leeds.

@Saturdaysunrise

Good point Nothing wrong with hard work!

I was just struck by this concept of prestige and whether it can still be an applicable term for HE. Again going back to some of the US teen stuff my daughter's watches getting into a prestigious university with the consequent angst seems to be something identifiable in middle class society.

We do things differently in the UK (I think?). I wonder if in the last 40 years there has been increasing effort to make HE more egalitarian and therefore the idea of prestige has taken a back seat a little?

St Andrews, London School of Economics, Imperial College London...

It also depends on what subject you would want to study as well and your chosen career. I went to art school in London (Central Saint Martins) to do my degree and that institution is known and respected in the creative industries all over the world. I would not describe it as ''prestigious'' though, maybe more of a ''cool'' place to study.

I would say St Andrews ranks up there with Oxford and Cambridge.

@OneCup

I think that is exactly the idea I mean.

The LSE would be regarded as prestigous possibly because of international name recognition. Does the prestige come from the difficulty of entrance to some extent?

I think you've got Oxbridge and the Eussell Group with a few others eg Bath/St Andrews, then the rest. That said personally I think it depends more on course. Some unis have/are building a reputation for specific subjects. The rankings are often very different from table to table.

Whilst Oxbridge has the best reputation it will be interesting to see if their levelling up has any impact. They already seem to making the headlines for cancelling speakers because they don't like what they say. An outstanding uni doesn't do this imo, surely they are all clever enough to discuss/argue their points!

Interesting point about St Andrews but do we have the same angst around entrance compared to Oxbridge given the lack of interview and bespoke assesment? Is St Andrews a natural destination for high flyers? Is the prestige here to some extent due to age?

I'm not sure what makes people think St Andrews is up there with Oxbridge. I think maybe the marketing is good but I'm not convinced it's is ever spoken about/considered in the same sentence as Oxbridge. The students I know who have gone there were no where near Oxbridge material.

@cosmiccosmos

Good point. However isn't the RG self selective? I think overall prestige is a difficult concept and you are quite right that there may be individual departments at RG universities that are prestgous that makes prestige definition more nuanced.

To my mind we don't have this American teen thing (at least on screen) where children (at possibly private schools) seem to have a existential angst about getting into high status unis. Maybe this culture is there for dramatic effect and I don't know to what extent it reflects the US in reality but I thought this mindset had died a little in the UK

It's interesting that our future King and Queen went to St Andrews and I don't quite know what is says about the university

However at some point a future monarch may go to a Welsh or Northern Irish uni. Are there particularly prestigous universities in the home nations?

You’ll get a decent education at most universities.

Generally teaching styles at Oxford and Cambridge is not replicated at any other British Uni.

I would say that degrees from certain institutions are generally “better thought of” but this is often based on age and marketing rather than a marker of quality and all of those institutions are in the Russell Group (but you currently identify it’s a self selecting lobby group, not a quality indicator). Certainly there is some very good teaching outside of the Russell group.

Oxbridge, Durham, Bristol, Exeter, LSE, Imperial are the prestigious English ones... (from Sloane Ranger Handbook era)

Don't think Bath's in this bracket...

sigh despite a career in HE and a degree from one of those prestigious-but-not-Oxbridge unis, I still can’t deal with the spellchecker on my phone and bother to proof read. Probably tell you all you need to know ;)

I thought Russell Group was something the university pays to be part of? So not an actual indicator of whether it is any good

Pretty sure that St Andrews came above Oxford and Cambridge in at least one set of rankings this year.

It's not Russell Group though. It's an Ancient university - which is a whole different class.

I'd include Durham and Bristol in universities which are quite elite.

@Mango101

Interesting point. It suggests that we need to extend the 'prestige' blanket to other universities? I think the question is how you select which universities are prestigous? Is there a need to extend the label?

Is Glasgow ancient?

Depends for what subject. You need to look at international league tables for the subject area to see where each stands on the world stage. Reputation for Medicine will differ to Engineering or Economics to Law for example. US unis tend to offer a more modular programme to most UK unis, so you specialise later.

Do we still have schools that are deemed prestgous and if so is there a link to the prestige of HE institutions?

Does therefore the amount of competition for places drive prestige?

It surely depends on the subject being studied? I have a very very academic brother who opted to study elsewhere (he was offered Oxford), different universities specialise in different areas.

Russel Group are doing an amazing marketing coup judging by how the term is used on mumsnet. It was a self-selecting lobby group - there's no mechanism for checking quality

I think specific degrees can have good claims to prestige from non-oxbridge universities though

@Lemonademoney

I agree. There will be certain subjects at certain universities that are very high quality with a deserved reputation.

I noticed having a teen age daughter we don't seem to have teen drama in the UK where going to Oxbridge is an underlying theme in their future ambitions and I wonder if this reflects something in our popular culture?

Oxbridge do things totally different to other universities so earn their reputation. My husband was one of four in his college to study that subject so had regular tutorials where the group debated points and were encouraged by their professor. I went to a RG university and my smallest group had 30 students in it. They cover more breadth and depth but also give more support.