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.

I went to a RG (in London) and had small tutorial groups of 4-6 people. It’s not just Oxford and Cambridge that do that!

There are quite a few unis which are 'world class' in certain areas, Manchester is another example.

The Russell Group universities attract huge research funding. High research funding attracts top academics, who are the teachers of the students.

Faculties at some UK regional universities have such academic prestige that student entry can be more competitive than Oxbridge. My son turned down a vet place offered by Cambridge, in order to train as a vet in Edinburgh (highest ranking vet school in UK).

I tutor Chinese students who are targeting UK universities and they talk about the 'golden triangle' which is London to Oxford to Cambridge and UCL and Imperial in the middle.

Manchester and Edinburgh usually feature too outside the triangle and as back up. But they won't touch anything below Top 100 in the WS rankings. In fact they apply more weight to those rankings than whether a uni is in the RG.

Only Oxbridge are recognised internationally. The rest of the U.K. unis aren't worth it if you need international recognition. Truthfully though if you can get into Oxbridge you'll get a better education at the Ivy's.

Hm... while the Netflix drama probably isn't particularly representative of real American teenagers, you may be right the us does have this sort of 'academic highflyers' genre and we don't. When I was a teen I used to enjoy 'The Paper Chase' (I think that's what it was called) about ambitious law students. Then off the top of my head, there's been overachiever Doogie Howser MD , Legally Blonde. More overachieving law students gone bad in how to get away with murder. On into the post doc stratosphere with the Big Bang lot.

Do we have anything of this ilk?

It is pretty simple - the ones which require teh highest A level grades are the best ones and you go down below that in that order.

If you look at where the more competitive careers recruit that also helps too. Eg I think about 16% come from Oxbridge for law jobs and about as many again from Durham, Bristol and Exeter www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/law-firms-preferred-universities-2019

If you look at the linked in profiles of people newly entering careers you want you can also get a good idea of which universities might be a good choice.

Utter rubbish.

Do you mean QS? There's a few in the top 100, the U.K. punches above its weight.

www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2023

Yes, I can't imagine 'RG' means anything outside the U.K.

Yes I mean QS! Doh!

CHarles DID attend a Welsh university , UCW Aberystwyth.

William attended St Andrews not least because its location and small population enabled him to have a relatively normal student life away from the public eye. Plus, in academic terms,it's not very hard to get a place (or a degree).

The Russell Group universities attract huge research funding. High research funding attracts top academics, who are the teachers of the students.

Don't assume these high flying research academics make good teachers or even do much teaching!!

From an international perspective RG means nothing. It's ALL about the QS ranking.

In America there is a large element of being a legacy, getting into the right fraternity/sorority house as these can open doors in the future which UK unis dont have. I watched a documentary on sororities and depending on the Chapter they are massively expensive to be a member of, I thought it was just a club you joined but its really not.

The UK is tiny compared to the US so it is unsurprising that we only have a couple of prestigious unis. The pressure to get in them may not be the same as in the US but there arent many British Unis that are known around the world like Oxford, Cambridge are (making Top 5 world Unis with Harvard, MIT, Stanford). The only other British Unis in the top 10 are Imperial and UCL.

You can filter the QS list to show just U.K. unis. There are 17 in the top 100

If it was just based on age then Aberdeen would be in 4th!

The top three are Oxbridge and St Andrew’s.

What do you mean by prestigious though?

The UK is tiny compared to the US so it is unsurprising that we only have a couple of prestigious unis. The pressure to get in them may not be the same as in the US but there arent many British Unis that are known around the world like Oxford, Cambridge are (making Top 5 world Unis with Harvard, MIT, Stanford). The only other British Unis in the top 10 are Imperial and UCL.

Tiny U.K. with 'only' 4 in the top 10 against the US with 5 (the other is Zurich). In the next 10, edinburgh is listed above those famed Ivies Yale, Princeton and Cornell.

I was about to type the same! One of the reasons my brother turned down Oxford was because the university he did decide on was more recognised internationally for his specialism and he has consistently worked globally in his field since graduating over twenty years ago

In global terms I would say - Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and Imperial i.e. Americans have heard of them and Chinese students are very keen to get in ( the latter in fact is because Chinese government only gives out scholarships to the top 100 unis in the world for their students to attend).

In the UK - I guess St Andrew's, Durham...Bristol? (though I never get that)....

But increasingly British students got state side for uni so it's not just UK unis they are interested in but also those same ones as the American students

UCL, Imperial, KCL generally round out the top 5, sometimes another one sneaks into place 4 or 5. In some years neither Oxford nor Cambridge is top, although there are about 3-4 rival ranking systems not just one, with slightly different methodologies. Have a look at the university world rankings. Some Russell Group and a few non-RG universities will be higher-ranked for specific subjects too, 'traditional' academic ones. For some vocational professional subjects like engineering, they have their own lists again. Then there are conservatoire-type places for art, music, dance and drama.

Was she watching Gilmore Girls @mids2019 ??

misses the point entirely

Xenia I know, from previous threads that at least one of your DC went to Bristol. However it really doesn't hold the quedos now that it did. That report is legal firms, ok if you're doing law (although is 2019). Bristol has had a lot of bad press and where I live 'everyone goes there on a contextual offer'. Not to say it isn't a good uni but it isn't stand out.

Prince William went to St A on grades we do not know, I believe that Kate is the academic one (A at a level maths always a good indicator). This does not mean it's a top uni.

The poster who said said Bath is not up there is way out of touch, esp for economics.

Ultimately it's all about course speciality.

High research funding attracts top academics, who are the teachers of the students.

A good proportion of these academics do not teach undergraduates at all. A proportion of those who do would rather not and want to spend as much of their time teaching/supervising PGs and doing their research. And/or aren't very good at teaching. This is certainly true in sciences where research funding is greater.

It's better to choose your UG university where you think you will get in quite comfortably, be able to do well and not always be struggling, fit in, enjoy yourself, work hard, get support, and get good teaching - there are teaching and student satisfaction rankings to help with this. If this dovetails with Oxbridge, RG or various other well-regarded institutions all the better.

Getting a high 2:1 or preferably a 1st, from pretty much anywhere, helps with getting places and funding for PG especially PG research. Very high prestige universities/ importance might be different for international students, and for getting into international business graduate schemes or American universities for postgrad, I don't know, but if you are a home student applying into UK-based companies or universities post-graduation, the above is best.

Imperial can easily rival Oxbridge reputation-wise for STEM. Durham is not as well-known as these three, especially not internationally.

Well it’s only been around since the 1450s, what do you class as ancient? 😂

Global rankings are based on American criteria (e.g. research funding - not relevant for well funded state universities; or unis where you teach and conduct research e.g. in Germany thats not always relevant with their system of research centers). It usually means that we've heard of them but they've never heard of so a lot of Brits like for example, Sunak try to go there in addition to their degrees in the UK.