Cambridge Still Tops the University League

Isabelle Monte 21 may 2012

Cambridge University’ s place at the top of the academic world has been confirmed once more with the release of the latest Guardian guide to the UK’s top Universities.

British Universities make up some of the world’s top further education establishments, with six of the global top 13 universities. So the publication of the list is awaited with much anticipation by education experts.

Cambridge emerged on top beating Oxford for the second year running, with the London School of Economics in third place.

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s old university, St Andrews is ranked fourth with Warwick leapfrogging UCL to gain fifth. Durham, Lancaster, Bath and Exeter Universities make up the remainder of the top 10 establishments.

As well as producing an overall list, the Guardian list ranks universities performance in different subjects. Cambridge again comes out on top in almost one third of the subjects - 16 out of 47 - dominating in biosciences, chemical engineering, computer science, maths, medicine and veterinary science. Oxford finished top in business studies, chemistry, economics, law and physics while UCL ranked top in six subjects including archaeology, architecture and English.

The highest ranking Universities will now be able to charge the maximum fee of £9,00 0 for new undergraduates from this September, except for the LSE, which will charge £8,500.

Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group of Universities who dominated the table, said: "Our universities do well in these and other tables but students should remember all league tables have their limitations and should look beyond rankings when choosing a degree course. Russell Group universities excel at research but even though this is not measured in these tables our universities have still performed well. Teaching is one of our top priorities and we believe the combination of world-class teaching and research excellence in our universities creates the ideal learning environment. Our universities offer a broad range of study options from A rabic to Zoology and Mechanical Engineering to Medicine..

" Employability is particularly important to potential students in the current climate. Employers rank six Russell Group universities in the top 13 universities in the world, and Russell Group graduates receive on average a 10 per cent salary 'top-up' over those from other universities. Our universities have higher than average levels of student satisfaction and the lowest drop-out rates – and we are constantly working to improve the student experience."

University - Is It Really Worth The Money?

Richard Ricci 05 mar 2012

A growing debate on both sides of the Atlantic is starting to focus on the cost of a university education.
In the UK the argument is especially intense as students attending English universities will, from September, have to start paying fees which could see the average student racking up debts of $30,000 to $50,000 by the time they graduate, depending on the course or university.

While in Scotland, legislators have vowed to keep free education for Scottish students but charge those from other countries including England.
Even in America, which has a long established principle of having to pay for higher education; critics are beginning to closely monitor the way that fees mount up. US students can expect to leave with average debts of $25,000 and well over $100,000 for the most prestigious law or medical schools.
President Obama is leading the calls for change by highlighting what he says are reduced standards of literacy among students which has seen more and more students graduating without basic skills.
He also claims that there is an increasing shortage of people with the skills necessary to work in high tech industries and says this must be addressed if America is not lose its lead over the rest of the world.
At present the Federal government tips around £140 billion a year into all form of Higher Education and the President says there must be better way of monitoring the impact of this huge expenditure to ensure it is generating value for money.

In the UK, concerns are also mounting over the quality of the education being provided by universities.
Students are increasingly likely to demand extra face to face time with their tutors is they will now have to pay for their education.
University chiefs say it puts more pressure on the education system as people start to look at it in purely monetary terms rather than placing a value on education for its own sake.

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