Oxford Brookes \ Angela Ruskin Support Thread

[Madeintheshade]

Support thread for parents with DC considering, applying or at these two excellent universities.

Poor old Angela (sorry, but it's a common autocorrect!)

Interested in why you've paired them together other than sharing cities with very different institutions. DD is at ARU (or, as she would say, CSA).

My bad on the typo😩.

Why pair them? Because they are similarly ranked institutions. There is already an Oxford and Cambridge Uni support thread, which are similarly ranked institutions on different cities, so why not?

Fair enough! 😀

Not a lot of love on MN generally for the post-92 universities, although they have often have some fabulous courses especially in vocational areas. I wonder whether the fact that ARU now has a fully-accredited medical school will start to change that?

I assumed this would be a thread for all post-92 universities, and that OP was trying a comedic take on Oxbridge. But OP do you literally mean only Brookes/ARU ?

I do literally mean those two institutions - yes!

CUG rankings 2024: Oxford Brookes 46. Anglia Ruskin 118. They are not comparable. At all!

The actual scores are 60 for AR and 70 for OB. They’re both in the same band: neither the highest or the lowest. Obvs where one sets “bands” is somewhat arbitrary. It works for me. If you’re not feeling it, no worries.

I just looked at a trusted league table. Like lots of people do. OB is always ranked say above AR. So I would compare apples with apples. AR is ranked 118. So one of the lowest. Not sure what rankings you are looking at or why you have linked these two, other than they share a city with Oxford and Cambridge universities - which is entirely random!

I've had a quick look, and in the 'international' league tables (e.g. QS, and US News World Report) they come out much as OP describes with ARU some way ahead of OB, but those are heavily weighted towards quality of research rather than student experience.

Anyway, OP, what would you like to discuss about them? Any thoughts or questions or observations? DD spends pretty much all her time in the art school and so we only have a hazy idea of what goes on in other departments.

@PhotoDad What is the point of QS ranking for these universities? Who remotely cares? CUG takes lots of factors into account and is respected in this country. Not against any student support but these two unis are surely chosen because they are in Oxford and Cambridge! So as a counterweight to the Oxbridge support threads. Why not Teesside and Swansea Metropolitan?

Oh @TizerorFizz - can't people chat about whatever they want on the HE board without you shouting them down!

AIUI, the QS World rankings are mainly aimed at academics who might come across a paper from somewhere they've never heard of, and want a very quick idea of how prestigious it is in the world of research. I completely agree it's much more useful for people considering a Ph.D. Also, both places do use the numbers in their marketing (a bit misleadingly, I think).

The choice of Anglia Ruskin and Brookes did make me smile. Who knows? Perhaps it could include a discussion of the exorbitant price of punting on the Granta/Cherwell if you don't have a college boathouse because you go to Brooskin (Rusbro?) rather than Oxbridge? But in all honesty, the cities are similar in many ways (e.g. cost of living, accommodation, activities available, architectural 'look and feel') even if the unis aren't.

Anyway, has your DC received their offer from ARU yet? What grades are they expecting? :)

Oxford Brookes boathouse is at Cholsey. They have numerous teams going to Henley Regatta.

Well, that's something new I've learned this morning! Probably not punting though. 😀

@Madeintheshade My DD has just finished her first year! She got 124 UCAS points; she had an unconditional offer. She's really impressed by her course (illustration) and is doing some paid work for the uni as a one-month internship at the moment, which is great experience. Hoping to do a year-long placement after second year.

No. They can't. Ever. It's so annoying.

I'm always surprised ARU isn't higher in the rankings. Lovely city and decent ex poly/art school. They missed a trick not having Cambridge in their name IMO!

@PhotoDad Glad you learnt something. Ignoring others - have a good day!

@Redtaper It's also got really good employment figures. And the Art School there punches well above its weight. How useful the league tables are rather depends entirely on how much you care about the various factors... spend per student, staff:student ratio etc are overall averages and can vary hugely from course to course.

League tables don't tend to include how walkable the city is, quality of life, or the number of free museums etc... all of which were important to my own DD. Horses for courses. (Or courses for horses?)

It says “Home of Anglia Ruskin University” alongside “Cambridge” on the station platforms. This was a smart marketing move.

The art school is very definitely "Cambridge School of Art" and has its own identity in the Edwardian buildings that make up one edge of the otherwise steel-and-glass campus. The waters are now even muddier as another art school has relatively recently opened in the city, and now it awards degrees (validated by other unis). That one is called "Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts." So CSA is part of ARU but CSVPA isn't, and neither of them are part of the U of C. Luckily, people in the creative industries mostly know this.

The really funny bit about the name is that John Ruskin only gave the opening speech there and made no other contribution (unlike the Ruskin art school which is part of Oxford). But he was a Victorian celebrity and so his name got appropriated fairly early on!

I remember the CCAT students could use the Cambridge University library for their 3rd year dissertations.

It just goes to show league tables are helpful generally but limited use for specifics. One has to look at individual courses. A meh university may have one of the best courses for X subject, and a top university may not be particularly good for the same course.
And @PhotoDad I do think some art schools can be almost separate entities to their awarding University - like the highly ranked (by the body important for the subject, in this case the Rookies) Escape Studios in London is awarded by University of Kent but one doesn't have much to do with the other, though I do notice if you look up CSA you are directed to the ARU website (you have to look hard to see the Kent association with Escape).
And you are right about confusing the 'other' art school - on Google they are listed as Cambridge School of Arts, and even more galling (for ARU) it comes out above!
But back to the thread - no open days at CSA/ARU til the Autumn unfortunately!

Yes, CSVPA messes up searches! It's too new to have much of a reputation yet, but when I had a look, it offers quite a few courses aimed at pre-university level. I can't see whether they expect people to live in their accommodation, but it is eye-wateringly expensive even by Cambridge standards; the cheapest on their website is literally double the rent of the cheapest at ARU. Oof!

That's another thing that Oxford and Cambridge have in common; cost of living and private-sector rent (as the ancient universities can house most of their students, moreso in Cambridge than in Oxford).