CHOOSING A UNIVERSITY - CAN RANKINGS REALLY HELP?


Market-based fee systems make independent university comparisons vital for those deciding where to study, says Tim Rogers.


We live in very interesting times. For decades, the topic of higher education, university admissions, tuition fees and graduate employment featured, if at all, buried deep in the pages of our national newspapers.


In recent months, however, since the release of the Browne Report and the UK Government’s White Paper on higher education, universities are front-page news, almost on a daily basis.


New demands from students, the government and employers to make the university experience more relevant to the contemporary labor market have transformed the higher education landscape in the UK and discussions on social mobility, transferable skills and the funding of education are now commonplace.


Change Ahead


Interesting times may also mean change ahead for UK and European students aiming to enter university in 2012 and beyond. The implementation of what might be called “market rate” tuition fees calls into question for the first time whether universities and their individual undergraduate degree programs represent value for money equally.


With higher rates of student debt facing most students in the UK in the future, the question “what do I get for my money?” arises in a way students have never had to face before. The logical response to such a situation is the provision of more detailed and perhaps greater volumes of relevant advisory information.


The role of rankings, in this context,


may prove much more powerful. Related to the UK government’s own revised approach to higher education, the collection of independent and objective data on the performance of universities across a range of measures, such as entry standards, student satisfaction, tuition fees and graduate employment rates, is likely to be critical for all those concerned with making the right choice on where to study.


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