Are UK universities the best in the world?

So you students are making big decisions about which university to study at. Or perhaps you are already a budding university student and you’re looking at doing a placement abroad, but don’t know which university is best and how foreign universities compare to our universities here in the UK. Or perhaps you are an international student looking to study in the UK from abroad?

First of all, students most often refer to university rankings to compare universities within the UK. The usual suspects will feature at the top of most of these lists, regardless of which newspaper or website has published them. As useful as tools like this are, importantly universities rank differently according to the course you are applying for. It makes sense that a high ranking university for Medicine might not be the perfect choice if you are thinking of applying to study Fine Arts – sounds like common sense we know, but this is an easy thing to forget when getting caught up in ranking tables and student satisfaction ratings!

Equally, there are ranking tables out there that attempt to compare universities not only from the UK but internationally as well. Although to some extent these sorts of tools might be useful to make sure you’re not applying to a university in France for your placement that is so appalling it shouldn’t be classed as a university, a bit of scepticism is needed at this point. How can universities in different countries, with differing cultures and norms, be compared on one universal scale? Our answer to this is: badly!

One example of how comparisons like this can be misunderstood is the reporting of one ranking system that the UK is seriously lagging behind the US in terms of university standards: this claim is based on there being 13 universities in the US in the World Top 20 compared to the UK’s miserly 4. Oh no, I hear you gasp, get me a one way ticket to a top class education in the US! But we would urge you to stop right there! It seems someone forgot to point out to these researchers that there are a few vital differences between the UK and the US. Perhaps the most significant of these is the population size! It could therefore be argued that for our size, the UK is outperforming the US in terms of top class universities.

So you see, these ranking tables are all well and good but you should remember they might not be an accurate reflection of which university will be the best for you…only you can decide that. How, you ask? Research really will go a long way in making the right decision – researching the university, the specific course at that university, student satisfaction ratings and the area. After all of this, we hope you’ll be well on your way to making the right decision for your future!