Much of the reporting and headlines around university admissions throughout the year, and particularly around A level results day, read as if they apply to the whole university sector. The reality is that they’re often, if subliminally, all about the Russell Group. This is a self-selecting, self-promoting group of 24 universities often labelled the nation’s ‘elite’ or ‘top’ universities. The reality is far from this.
The Russell Group includes perhaps four or five genuinely outstanding universities, including, of course, Oxford and Cambridge. But among the rest there are some very modest performers – some of their members would struggle to make the top 40 or 50 universities on many measures of student progress and satisfaction. A few score poorly on teaching quality too.
I have yet to see any research into students’ preferences for their university choices which includes ‘large research intensive’ as an indicator, but this is the common factor amongst Russell Group members. Today it has become a hugely successful if hollow ‘brand’ which is distorting the market, student choice and political thinking. As David Willetts said recently on ConHome, ‘what makes our ‘top’ universities top is their world-class research. That does not mean their teaching is better.’
