TEF Gold or Silver - does it matter?

[ComeonArsenal]

Trying to eliminate some unis from DS’ long list. Should whether a uni has Silver as opposed to Gold for TEF be a decisive factor? Would rule out Cardiff, Southampton and Liverpool in his case….

It's fairly meaningless, so I wouldn't use it as a deciding factor. It's based on how skilfully someone can write a case for their institution.

Dear god no! TEF can be completely ignored. Besides, new ratings are due out in the next few months anyway. But they're meaningless.

thanks @titchy and @Cornishmumofone - I thought TEF was important because it reflected quality of teaching? I imagined inspectors come in and evaluate it (like Ofsted in schools)?

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Sorry! No. OfS looks at uni's crappy NSS scores and crap professional employment stats (not that these are an indicator of much out of context tbh). University writes compelling 15 page document explaining why these do not reflect the quality of anything that happens at the university and that actually the uni has invested billions in internships/library/mentoring etc etc etc and OfS panel go 'oh ok that sounds compelling we'll give you a gold'

Never does anyone who knows anything about what good quality teaching in subject x come and look at a curriculum or a lecture. That hasn't happened for 20 odd years.

@titchy thanks for your patient explanation! I shall tell DS to disregard TEF status then!