Reputation matters
Now we know what universities have the best reputations. First spots are taken by the big US institutions and second are UK universities. But do we really need to know this?
Last week Times Higher Education (THE) published a survey for which the world’s smartest thinkers and most intelligent academics have puts their big brains to work and picked the universities they believe are best. Polling company Ipsos carried it out and managed to quiz over 13.000 people from 130 countries.
In the analysis, THE comes to the conclusion that UK universities score better in the reputation chart than in actual performance. So what criteria did they rank the universities on? Actually, this is a big mystery. Going through the methodology of the survey on the website of Times Higher Education does not really give away any juicy details. Except for:
“Respondents could highlight what they believed to be the strongest universities, regionally and globally, in their specific fields, selecting from hundreds of disciplines and from more than 6,000 academic institutions. ‘Action-based’ questions – such as ‘where would you recommend a top undergraduate should study for the best postgraduate supervision?’ – were used to encourage more thoughtful responses and more meaningful results.”
Right, that does not really make it any more clear. It seems that the intelligent academics were asked to pick and choose the universities on their gut feeling what think to be the best. This whole chart is completely subjective. And anyway, reputation is an empty and meaningless measure to rate universities, and it does not match actual performance. So why did THE feel the need to publish this? It only leads to confusion and unfairness for us, the students.
We can only hope that employers ignore this news altogether and look at real data.
Education Blog 
I really do think it’s subjective. I know KU isn’t ranked at the top at all but I have a lot of friends who studied in the ‘top’ universities in the UK, especially the Russell Group ones, struggling to find a job here and abroad. If you ask me, I think what matters more than anything else is what skills and work experience you have on your CV. Plus, different schools are good for different subjects.
March 18, 2011 at 2:53 pm
The constant chase for reputation is what has made universities into profit-making machines rather than education institutions. I agree with you, why is there a need for making a league table based on reputation? Students should be applying to universities where the course fits their needs, the campus feels home and the tutors are welcoming and supportive. Applying because of ‘reputation’ is unnecessary. I doubt that in this recession, the reputation of your university is going to secure you a job.
March 18, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Well that’s the whole thing isn’t it? A lot of students from universities like KU who don’t have an amazing reputation get denied of a job, eventhough they are prefectly competent. Employers just throw away their CVs when they see the university.
Reputation shouldn’t be a criteria, but because of charts like this one, it becomes one. And that is wrong, this survey should never been published, it’s subjective and meaningless…
March 18, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Reputition is always a criteria, when students are chosing a university. However, studying at one of the best universities does not have to mean automatically that the student is better educated than another student studying at “lower ranked” university.
It is always about the student himself. But the pressure which university with a good reputition put on its students is in deed higher and might cause better results and a education.
March 23, 2011 at 11:30 pm