How the table works
Methodology
This may get a little technical. If you're not a statistician, maybe all you need to know is that the table takes ten different factors, some of which count as more important than others and Push has made those completely arbitrary decisions about which is more important and by how much. And that's the problem with this and every other league table.
Having said that, if you do love your means, modes and medians and really do want to understand it, here's where the nitty gets gritty.
Universities are assessed on the basis of five factors: finance; job prospects; academic standards; ease of entry and demand; and the level and range of extra-curricular activities and support. Each of these factors is worth up to 1,000 points towards a total score out of 5,000. Except for job prospects, which are assessed on the basis of one criterion alone, the scores are the sum of several indicators as follows. For each indicator, points are awarded on a relative basis where the highest performing university scores the maximum and the lowest scores the minimum, with those in between scoring points according to their relative performance within the spread. Where no data is available for a given indicator, the average points for the indicator are awarded.
1. The financial indicators are weighted equally (ie. 500 points each):
a. Cost of living: This is in itself a compound statistic, involving weighted figures for accommodation costs, a basket of student goods (bought locally) and the booze index (which is the weighted average of a pint of beer, a glass of wine and a glass of orange juice bought locally and in the student bar).
b. Average student debt per year: These figures are according to the 2007 survey carried out by Push in every campus in the UK involving face-to-face interviews with nearly 2,000 students.
2. Job prospects are measured according the percentage unemployed six months after graduation.
3. Academic indicators include:
a. “Flunk rates” (non-completion) as provided by HESA (up to 400 points);
b. Staff:student ratios (up to 200 points);
c. Push’s teaching rating, based on a compound of the National Student Satisfaction Survey (where available) and QAA assessments (up to 400 points).
4. Ease of entry and demand gives equal weight (up to 500 points each) to:
a. Average UCAS points of students admitted: Contrary to most league tables, for the purposes of this exercise, Push takes the attitude that the lower the entry qualifications a student requires, the better.
b. Applications per place: To balance a university merely being easy to get into, these league tables also include a measurement of the relative demand for the places.
5. Student life comprises:
a. Push’s own star rating system (1 to 5 stars) for measuring student activity which in turn is based on the number of student clubs and societies per capita and the SU turnover per capita (up to 800 points)
b. The number of students per welfare counsellor, including both student union and university-provided staff with part-time staff counting as half (up to 200 points).
The weightings accorded are largely arbitrary and do not reflect the weight any prospective student does or should give to each factor. In fact, it should be noted that there is an inherent bias in the weighting used towards smaller institutions. However, other weightings would have created other biases instead – as is the case in any league table that tries to compare chalk and cheese.
It should go without saying that this exercise has a massive health warning: these factors mean very little out of context. For instance, just because a cost of living is low, it does not mean the quality of life is high, and just because a university has a high flunk rate, it doesn’t mean any individual student is likely to flunk or not, nor that it would be a problem for them if they did.
Last updated on: 27 March 2008