And as the football season creaks to an end with its promotions and relegations gradually becoming apparent, so the University league table season begins.
Today we have the Complete University Guide 2014, and there are few surprises in the top 10:
- Cambridge
- Oxford
- LSE
- Imperial
- Durham
- St Andrews
- UCL
- Warwick
- Bath
- Exeter
Full details of how this table works are presented here. A summary of the League Table scores is given below:
|
Mean |
4.0 |
2.2 |
350 |
18.3 |
1088 |
407 |
65.5 |
64.2 |
85.9 |
|
Max |
4.2 |
3.0 |
608 |
32.9 |
5448 |
1071 |
90.9 |
92.1 |
98.9 |
|
Min |
3.7 |
1.1 |
213 |
10.0 |
132 |
67 |
41.9 |
39.4 |
62.9 |
The Z-scores on each measure were then weighted by 1.5 for Student Satisfaction and Research Assessment and 1.0 for the rest and summed to give a total score for the University. This does mean that for a university with a lower research profile, that its overall score might be depressed all other things being equal.
For Staffordshire , we have moved from 108th to 113rd in the overall league table.
|
2014 |
4.0 |
1.62 |
251 |
20.3 |
823 |
386 |
56.3 |
48.9 |
79 |
This compares with our results in the 2013 table as follows:
|
2013 |
3.9 |
1.62 |
246 |
21.6 |
760 |
384 |
50.6 |
58.9 |
76 |
So this shows overall improvements in:
- student satisfaction,
- SSR,
- number of good honours degrees awarded
- rise in entry standards
- degree completion rates.
- services and facilities spend
The one area that seems to be hitting us hard is in graduate prospects. As a university with a higher level of local recruitment, this could be a reflection of our local economy, and to quote the website:
“A relatively low score on this measure does not mean that many graduates were unemployed. It may be that some had low-level jobs such as shop assistants, which do not normally recruit graduates. Some universities recruit a high proportion of local students. If they are located in an area where graduate jobs are hard to come by, this can depress the outcome”
For those who wish to delve further, individual subject league tables are available on the site. along with regional subject tables. Graphs can be plotted by subject area and overall performance as a function of time, so there’s lots to delve into.