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InQuire The University of Kent’s student newspaper
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11 May 2018
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Issue 13.11
Review: Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
Inter-Korea Summit: A Korean View
From Tourist to Homeless: A Canterbury Tale Lifestyle Page 27
Opinion Page 7
Culture Page 13
Kent Down 19 Places in University Ranking By George Knight Writer
T
he University of Kent has dropped 19 places in the Complete University Guide League Table for 2019. Falling from 25th in 2018, to 44th in the most recent release. This is the lowest position the University has held in the past decade. This news is the first and only result yet received about the University’s overall rankings for 2019, as other prominent League Tables likes the Guardian and the Times Higher Education have yet to be released. The Guide’s rankings are based on 10 measures, including
research, student satisfaction, and graduate prospects. Whilst American Studies, Art & Design, Iberian Languages, Linguistics, and Marketing are still ranked in the top ten for those fields in the U.K, subjects such as Chemistry, Drama and Dance, and Economics dropped in rankings. The reasons behind this fall is, according to Paul Greatrix of the University of Nottingham, ‘due to an increase in StudentStaff Ratio’, suggesting that the universities had fallen due to a larger group of students relative to each member staff. The Universities current studentstaff ratio, according the CUG collection, is 18.4, meaning that
for each staff member there are currently 18.4 students. Although these figures suggest that each student would have less contact time with staff, the CUG states in its criterion that ‘A low student–staff ratio does not guarantee good quality of teaching or good access to staff.’ Many ranking tables even dispute the necessity and impact of this feature, with the Guardian arguing that the ‘ratio of the number of staff to students does not accurately reflect teaching intensity and does not reveal who is performing the teaching.’ Kent’s research and teaching intensity is still high, ranking 0.85 out of 1.00, its teaching
quality is ranked as ‘Gold’ by the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and its graduate prospects is rated 82.4 out of 100.0. Comparing Kent to other universities both higher and lower in the ranking, highlights, as the Guardian suggests, how the ranking system does not necessarily reflect quality. The University of Lincoln which now sits one place above Kent on the table has lower Graduate Prospects at 76.0 and St George’s University of London, placed at 52nd, has Graduate Prospects of 93.6. St George’s is an enlightening comparison to Kent’s recent development. Despite falling from 34th place in 2014 to 52nd in 2019, the University’s quality has not fallen as a result. Kent is not alone in this development. Hull has had a similar fate, dropping from 74th to 94th place. In responce to the 2019 league rankings, A University of Kent spokesperson said: ‘The University has achieved a top 10 position in five subject areas and a top 20 position in 15 subject areas in the latest
Complete University Guide. It has also increased nine places to 16th for Graduate Prospects. However, we have undertaken an alignment of our staffing load calculations, which has ensured parity between all staff groups but meant that our overall position has dropped this year. This change in the calculations did not impact on the delivery of our teaching either in terms of the number of contact hours delivered or class sizes.’ The University’s 2020 plan is to secure a position as a top 20 UK university.Many students have been particulary vocal about the University’s drop in ranking. Maisie Golding, Communication Manager for KTV has called on the university to focus ‘giving brilliant teaching and having amazing admin staff’. Other universities have also had drops for other reasons. Both Falmouth University and City, University of London have fallen between 24 and 27 places respectively, along with Middlesex which had the most severe drop of 32 places, all due to ‘a decrease in Graduate Prospects.’
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