UoN Takes a Tumble: Why is Nottingham Falling in the League Tables?

According to recent university league tables, the University of Nottingham has taken a sharp nosedive. Impact’s Campus News Editor, India Campbell, delves into the extent of this decline and some of the reasons behind it.

Just this summer, the University of Nottingham was placed in 52nd place by The Guardian in a league of higher education institutions in the UK. This is down from 38th the year before, 18th in 2020, and 17th in 2019. Fairing slightly better in The Complete University Guide, a website that compiles a university league table based on ten measures including spending in academic services, research intensity and research quality, Nottingham is the 24th best British university this year. This is down again, however, from 20th, 19th and 17th the years preceding. Evidently, something is going wrong in Notts. This, then, begs the question: What has caused this fall from grace? Why is the University of Nottingham plummeting in the rankings?

The ‘Which? University Student Survey’ contacted more than 11,000 undergraduates with questions regarding how they would describe their university experience against a certain set of characteristics, such as having a ‘diverse local nightlife’ and ‘varied union activities’. In terms of ‘nightlife’, ‘union activities’ and ‘sport’, the University of Nottingham scored high, with ratings of 77% and above. This was recognised when the University was named ‘Sports University of the Year’ for 2021 by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide. Furthermore, the University scored relatively well for ‘creativity’ and ‘political’, according to Which?. In terms of research power, the University is also not struggling, ranking 8th in the UK in the most recent ‘Research Excellence Framework’. It is, therefore, not in these areas that the University seems to be suffering.

Looking at the numbers from The Complete University Guide, Nottingham has held steady in terms of entry standards, research quality and degree completion for a number of years now. The downfall seems to be in academic services spending and student-staff ratio, where the University ranks 50th and 43rd respectively. The lowest ranking the University received was in student satisfaction, where it placed a shocking 108th in the country. Although there is no evidence from the data itself to suggest these results are linked, it seems fair to assume that lower student-staff ratios, and less spending on academic resources, is likely to have negatively impacted student satisfaction. This is especially notable considering students are paying more for university than ever before.

Of course, the effects of Covid-19 last year had a huge impact on Nottingham’s rankings this year. With the move to online learning, the past academic year was undeniably chaotic. Many students were left feeling disappointed with the University for its handling of the situation, in particular the quality of teaching and support during isolation. But every university had to navigate the trials of the pandemic, so why did Nottingham specifically suffer so much in 2020 and 2021 rankings?

Thinking back to the 2020/21 academic year quickly provides a credible answer. In October 2020, Nottingham had the highest Covid-19 infection rate in England, and the University went into a tailspin. It was a national scandal when students in on-campus catered accommodation took to social media to share the food (or lack thereof) University catering provided during their isolation periods. Students were told food packages would be sent to their door, but for many, this was not the case. Meals could be hours late, or sometimes never arrived at all. Many students were subsequently forced to ask those not isolating to bring them food and pass it through their windows, paying extra on top of what they were already forking out to live in catered halls. During this time, the BBC released a story on Nottingham students who were isolating in Derby Hall, comparing their experience to living in ‘a prison’. Unreliable food delivery was combined with heavy-handed security to create living conditions so dire that many even broke Covid-19 restrictions and risked large fines to go back home.

The pandemic, as previously stated, also led the University to move teaching online. Unquestionably, the initial move to online teaching was always going to be difficult; however, as the months wore on, many students grew tired of the new teaching format. Particularly dissatisfied were those whose courses consisted entirely of lectures, such as psychology. These students had no seminars or other forms of contact hours throughout the entirety of online teaching. In an Impact article written earlier this year, Psychology student Gemma Cockrell explained she had not only “missed out on the University experience”, but found it “much harder to engage online”, especially as she reaches her final year. A year in which she feels she “needs to be surrounded by the best facilities and resources to succeed”. The fact that many courses were entirely online throughout the 20-21 academic year, and some students still access much of their teaching online even this year, is very likely a significant contributor to the plummet in student satisfaction. This is especially true of those currently in second year, whose only university experience has been through a computer screen until now.

Clearly, the University is experiencing an unprecedented knock to its reputation, and for good reason. Nottingham must reassess its priorities and address this shocking plunge in student satisfaction. Only then can Nottingham retain its place among not only the best universities in the UK, but the world.

By India Rose Campbell

Photography by Rian Patel Page Design by Chiara Crompton