To quote the White Paper itself, “We will radically improve and expand the information available to prospective students, making available much more information about individual courses at individual institutions and graduate employment prospects.”
Ben Sowter, Head of the QS Intelligence Unit, the power behind the QS World University Rankings, sees the use of rankings by prospective students as only now becoming more and more important.
“With higher tuition fees in place in the UK, students and their parents are bound to look for more detailed information that compares programs, universities and even graduates of specific institutions directly. Information that is based on solid data will help all those involved in choosing where to study to make much better and more informed choices.”
Phil Moss, an education and admissions consultant specializing in counselling UK students to gain access to university, believes that the advent of fees will change a number of behaviors, but sounds a note of caution on the use of university rankings and league tables.
“Any university ranking offers additional information and is likely to help students and their parents make better decisions about where to study, but the need to balance them with other, more human factors will continue to be important.
Supporting Student Choice
The availability of rankings for UK, EU and international students to help support them choosing a university program is nothing new. A range of publications, including many national newspapers, magazines and now websites, have developed rankings or league tables to help support better student choice for over a decade.
“Advice from alumni or current students can be as valuable in providing a genuine insight into the experience or quality of a particularly degree program and add an element that rankings can never convey – the actual emotion of a university experience.”
More Detailed Comparison
While rankings are perhaps not the answer for all issues related to university or program choice, the provision of a set of measures that
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contribute to an understanding of the relative quality of an institution is very valuable.
Rankings, such as those offered by QS, have the added advantage of offering a detailed insight into the relative strengths of universities in the UK and further afield at the subject level.
Such attempts at providing information at this micro-level can only support prospective students in making the best decision possible for their university choice and their future careers. For many, in the changed reality of tuition fees and increasing demand for university undergraduate places, the availability of more and more information can only be a good thing.
The implementation of full-cost student tuition fees will change the UK university environment forever – and for many it’s already started to.
Not only will students and their parents seek much greater reassurances that the university experience and the likely qualification gained will provide value for money, but that a genuine return on the greater investment made will be assured, if not quite guaranteed.
University rankings and external assessments can only add a very valuable dimension to the decision- making process for all those concerned, as more and more students assess whether their university choice is the best possible one for them.
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