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Oxford "sixth" for student experience

The University of Oxford has fallen to sixth place in the 2010 Times Higher Education national “Student Experience” rankings, released last week. 

Oxford has consistently dropped in the rankings, after coming third in 2009 and second in 2008, and this year suffered particularly in categories of living expenses and workload.

Cambridge has also suffered a drop in the rankings, from second in 2009 to fourth in 2010. 

The chart is topped for the fifth year running by Loughborough University. THE also deems Oxford students’ experience inferior to that of our counterparts at Sheffield, East Anglia and Dundee. 

The survey covers twenty-one categories ranging from quality of tuition, interest of staff and structure of course, to social life, community atmosphere and quality of facilities. The rankings are based on responses from 13,000 students at 113 different universities.

The survey is entirely student-based, with even the categories being generated by students.  Oxford’s scores are based on the replies of 224 undergraduates representing various courses, colleges and years.  Respondents are recruited by email invitations from the University and Colleges Admissions Service.

The universities ranked in the top ten have not changed since last year, though their positions within the  ten have shifted.

Despite a disappointing overall ranking, Oxford came first in the categories of “good personal relationship with teaching staff,” with 6.3 out of seven possible points, and “tuition in small groups,” with 6.9 points compared to Cambridge’s 6.8. 

Oxford also scored well in the “high-quality staff/course” category, topping the table along with Cambridge, each with 6.5, and received a high mark of 6.6 for “good library and library opening hours.”

“It is an endorsement of the tutorial system, and testament to the hard work of our teaching staff, that Oxford ranks so highly in areas such as small group teaching, good relationships between staff and students, and the quality of teaching provided,” said a spokesperson for the University.

Oxford’s lowest categories were “good student union” with a score of 4.1, “cheap bar/shop/amenities” with 4.5 and “fair workload” with 4.7 points.

Some students feel this survey does not reflect their experience at Oxford.

“If Oxford has dropped from third to sixth, the adjudicators clearly haven’t been to Camera on a Tuesday night,” said Sebastian Leape, who reads PPE at Keble College.

“I feel like my experience is probably worthy of first or at worst second place.”

Jake Lancaster, however, a first year student of English, finds the social scene lacking.

“No one is satisfied with cheap and sticky club nights that leave you feeling disgusted with yourself,” he complained.

“Nowhere has a vibe that even approaches cool.”

In spite of Oxford’s drop in the Student Experience ranking, THE’s 2010-2011 World University Rankings name Oxford, along with Cambridge, as the best university in Europe and the sixth in the world.

The World University Rankings places more weight on aspects of universities such as the volume and influence of the research produced by the faculty than on quality of student life.

Experts warn against placing too much emphasis on surveys and statistics when choosing a university.

“There will be no statistical significance in the scores of similarly ranked universities,” said Eleanor Simmons, associate director of OpinionPanel, the market research company that conducted the survey.

It is also difficult to generalise about elements such as accommodation and facilities that can vary significantly from college to college.

However, higher tuition fees might cause students to research their choice of universities more thoroughly and give more consideration to surveys like these.

NUS President Aaron Porter told THE, “As tuition fees are once again tripled, students will increase the pressure on their universities to deliver a high standard of academic, social and environmental experience.”

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