Guardian university rankings out yesterday

[TheJollyCoralEagle]

The Guardian University rankings were published yesterday (The Daily Mail rankings are out today as well, but I don't really want to reference that otherwise this might take a political detour which isn't relevant to the conversation)
The usual subjects are at the top. Oxbridge, Imperial, UCL, Durham etc. What is interesting is further down. Established, high ranking globally, Russell Group unis like Newcastle and Nottingham at 62nd and 63rd, but Chichester at 26th and Bolton at 32nd
And then the variation between the league tables. Bolton for example is 108th in the CUG and Chichester at 79th.
I know the Guardian uses different metrics to CUG (and the others) but the rankings must have some relevance to each other?
Some good advice is to go look at the subject league tables but even there, that isn't always useful. My son wants to do Quantity Surveying. Speaking to Quantity Surveyors in practice they generally regard Oxford Brookes as one of the top universities for Quantity Surveying yet Oxford Brookes comes in at 12th on the CUG Quantity Surveying rankings. And for Magic Circle law recruitment or investment banking for example, apparently the vast majority of their recruits come from a handful of targeted top universities, but some other universities feature highly in these relevant subject rankings.
I know rankings aren't important for everyone. Some people just want to go to a university that they like for the experience, the city, their friends are going there, it's close to home etc, but for students concerned about getting a job and having to choose between more than 100 universities it's a bit of a minefield!
I know recruiters aren't supposed to look at which university you went to, so maybe rankings aren't such a big factor in the job market any more, but let's not kid ourselves if rankings/reputation/kudos weren't important most students would be going to Leeds Beckett, Northumbria, LJU or Nottingham Trent to have a great social life!

https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2024/sep/07/the-guardian-university-guide-2025-the-rankings?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

The Graun has always had its outliers given its choice of metrics and associated weighting. And to be fair they do publish their methodology. However the latest overall table, and the couple of subject tables I glanced at look to have taken their other worldliness to a whole new level.

I wouldn't overthink it. Many universities are naturally ruled out based on predicted grades.

Oh no - It’s all different for DS’s subject since he applied and the one he is going to (today) has dropped way down the list below others where he could have gone. Never mind it is probably all lies, damn lies and statistics and he will take it as it comes.

Northumbria is 38 so with the social life sounds like a winner op

I studied my first degree at one of those universities now known as a Russell Group university. The reason I've had a career is because I studied a practical vocational subject on a post-grad course at Northumbria. I'd like to see the snobbery around universities diminish and disappear but while so many top jobs are dominated by the Oxbridge set I'm not holding my breath on that.

For what it's worth I've also studied at a postgraduate level at another Russell Group university and worked at one for a couple of years.

They may claim their membership is based exclusively on their research output but the truth is they pay a hefty membership fee to be in that group.

When perusing those league tables it's also worth considering that Oxbridge and many of the Russell Group often don't offer the practical vocational subjects that are arguably so much more relevant to our future.

I had a look at the earlier. I’d take it all with a pinch of salt

Guardian focuses much more on student experience than some of the other rankings.

He can always apply to transfer to somewhere higher up the desirability scale for second year, though? Or apply to start the whole course again. I mean, can he be sure that a future (not, possibly) employer won't have a whole department dedicated to scouring league tables in order to rank applicants three or four years hence...? Best not to take that risk...

No need for whole departments @MarchingFrogs AI could that in an instant. 😁

Although to give a plug to the CUG that does have a full download facility for every year and subject, plus overall, back to 2008.

Good gracious are you being serious? I think we will go with it for the moment and not uproot him half way through his course or just as he arrives for his first day. You need some balance in life and it is one league table in one year.

Very subjective, often small sample sizes.

Read the guardian listings for amusement more than for information. If you look at the ranking for a field you know about you'll often find them massively adrift from reality.

The guardian ones are extremely odd and taken with a pinch of salt for area I know - law. It’s a real mish mash of the usual highly regarded suspects and then some real wild cards. Solent above Durham for law is not credible.

What is all this pinch of salt nonsense? Full condiment set more like.

Although I do wonder……..Owen Jones has a new opinion piece in the Graun. Possibly the latest Graun league table content and timing was designed to make that seem comparatively balanced and rationale. 🤔

Anything that uses student satisfaction surveys is flawed. DD22 was not given the chance to complete hers (Bath) as she changed course. She says she would have been honest about reasons and so would the 4 others who changed to another course from hers. So a bit more than a pinch of salt required.

Uni of Nottingham 62?? With Buck New Uni at 65? What an absolute pile of BS. 😂😂

If employers have whole departments (or Indeed anyone) dedicated to sifting applicants based on subjective rankings for clicks from one newspaper, then they're not going to be in business very long.

No, of course I'm not being serious.

Sadly, though, I bet there are a few folk out there who are getting their knickers in a twist over just such a 'situation' that their DC find themselves in - or the DC themselves (how many posts does one see where parent says that their DC won't consider <name of perfectly sound university, often renowned for course in question> 'because it's not RG', for example?).

Another example of technology robbing people of their jobs. This must stop

No, of course I'm not being serious

phew! You never quite know on here. Emotions running high today I guess. He is happy with his choice in loads of ways. Just would have been a cherry on top of the cake if it had gone up instead of down.

Made me 🤔 that Cambridge is 3rd, yet no score at all for teaching or assessment. Just a blank box.

How did they reach such a high ranking, without the key things - teaching and assessment. 😆

I couldn’t get past Solent in the top 10 for law.

Oh sorry you had already pointed out this one! Yes never in all my long legal and trainee-picking career ever heard a single thing about the excellence of Solent’s law department. Now if they had Leicester law up there unexpectedly high I might buy that as possibly credible depending on the methodology, but not Solent.

Gloucestershire 96 ucas points entry above very well regarded options for law like Manchester and York makes zero sense.
What criteria are the guardian using that is bumping up the Solent/Gloucestershire/Cumbria’s?

Guardian rankings are always ridiculous

I saw this yesterday and saw York really low down for my daughter's course. Nothing like other rankings we had looked at.

I was very bemused.