The best universities in the world

Should we celebrate that Cambridge and Oxford have been ranked third and fourth in the THE world universities league (an entirely unofficial one…despite the publicity it gets) – and that there are 17 UK universities in the top one hundred. Or should we lament that Cambridge and Oxford have slipped from joint second with Yale, and that last year we had 19 'unis' in the top 100? Or should we not give a damn?

My first instinct is to celebrate. The fact that Oxbridge can come out so strongly when it has the fraction of the endowment of Harvard (no. 1) and Yale (no. 2) is a tribute to the brilliance of its staff, their phenomenal hard work (“we live in a culture of competitive martyrdom”, as a senior colleague remarked to me recently), traditions of excellence that go back centuries and an administration that is more or less at one with the academics.

In fact you might say that it is the democratic structure of the oldest UK universities that has enhanced and protected their achievements – rather than held them back, as many voices in government and industry would argue. An apparently cumbersome, devolved, democratic, tardy system of governance is often the best support of great institutions, stacked full of people who are too clever by half.

If any other area of UK life was rated this high (primary school maths, for example) we’d all be cheering. The universities and the BBC surely must be what the country should be most proud of – and I feel luckier than I can say that I have spent most of my working life in Cambridge.

Yet it is hard not to feel anxious about the slippage downwards, and what it might portend.

If you work in Cambridge, I can assure you that you don’t feel particularly valued by the powers in Whitehall. Labour education ministers take side swipes at you when they need to cheer up their back-benchers. You are repeatedly accused of wanting to admit only the social elite (those whose faces fit) rather than commit yourself to a wide access policy (have the people who say that actually been to see what we do?). And if you do Classics (a subject that is flourishing across more than half the globe…I’m writing this from Berkeley, remember), it often sounds as if your best hope is that you will be kindly pensioned off.

And all the time you are working your butt off, at the expense of family, friends and any sort of normal life. Competitive martyrdom may be productive, but it is not fun – nor humane.

Put simply, universities need more money. Yes, we are doing are bit to raise millions, if not billions. But it takes a long time to change the culture in that respect. We’re a long way from the kind of “Class of 73” giving that supports the US university system.

Meanwhile excellent scholars, teachers, communicators and intellectuals leave the British system for the US and elsewhere because they feel undervalued, overworked and – unless they win externally funded long-term research leave, which takes them out of the system they should be supporting – squeezed for adequate time to do the research work that they are best qualified to do.

It’s a bad financial week to be saying this. But, yes we should give a damn.

Comments

[Pino d'Alba]

I don't care about those rankings.... so fake, so crap

[Brian C]

Talking of slipping numbers in questionable 'truth' tables...does anyone know whatever's happening to Edinburgh. Its been sliding down the ranks for subsequent years now...now THATS worrying!

[Paulo]

When I was around, there was a society for the Abolition of Keble College, the admission fee being one brick from the facade. When we beat them on the river, the eight of which I was the cox went and did as much damage as they could to one of the quads. But the smugness was ours, I'm afraid.

Paulo

[Lina]

I attend the department of Classical studies of the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris ; we're ranked 28th, so, believe me, the slippage downwards is just a question of getting used to it ( or fatalistic ; one need to be very careful to see the French universities and Grandes Ecoles in this list )...! Or maybe you should think about always complaining about such lists, as French scholars are used to doing ? Not sure it's useful, but... well... why not ?

During my first year here, the opening year speech of the director to new students was "don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid" ( which was very frightening and gave the impression of being in front of Pope JP II ) "And, pleeeease, write down the name of the school on whatever you publish...!"

Everybody in the room was a bit perplexed.

[Tony Francis]

Dear Lucy: I had never heard of Keble College. But based upon your recommendation, I now have a very low opinion of the place. On the other hand, UCL seems to be a wonderful institution, deserving of many accolades, and even greater honors. I truly regret thinking bad thoughts about it last week.

[Jerker Feuk]

XJY-
I know Lund. I grew up there. Still I had to go north to Uppsala for my celtic studies and I was surprised how internationally well connected my department was. I agree with you about the motto in the aula of the university. It was written in 1794 by Thomas Thorild. He was later exiled to Greifswald.
No one forced a bible-black tradition upon me. The reason could be that I've never made a secret of the fact that I belong to Sweden's tiny catholic minority.

[Lucy (without kids. Yet)]

Lord Truth! Can it be? You've written a whole post in only five lines, and I understood evey word. Keep up the good work.

@Tony Francis: You flatter me, sir. Opinions on schools are inclined to shift when one does know the real people concerned. I, for example, hastily downgraded Keble College Oxford earlier today on the strength of an usually smug, unusually unfounded comment from one of its lecturers on the superiority of Oxford over other universities...

[Lord Truth]

XJY-

For heavens sake! This is the second time this has come up wrong!
It is CULTURE that remains when you have forgotten everything you learnt.

[Xjy]

Jerker F! You wrote:
Poor XJY. Didn't make it up to Uppsala. I had to since it was the only place in Sweden where I could do celtic studies. Boy, was I academically lucky. I was about the only student with great tutors and the big names now and then being flown in.

Well, actually, I did. We had to go there for Gothic. And I'd been there before, as my nominal research supervisor in Sweden was an Uppsala prof. Uppsala might have been more of an experience than Stockholm, university-wise, but there's a bible-black tradition there, and the University doors have written over them in letters of gold: "Thinking free is great, thinking right is greater". And the student life may have its good sides but Jesus it has puke-inducing ones (literally) that are incredibly obtrusive.

Now Lund! There's a university for you :-) Not only is the cathedral a lot more impressive than Uppsala's but there's an air of intellectual inquiry there, on the whole, all things considered, etc. An interesting factoid for people who think the US has no history, is that Lund, Sweden's second university time-wise, was founded after Harvard. How about that!

[Jackie]

Paulo, six years is a long time! There has been massive regeneration in Birmingham in recent years, and lots of those road works and traffic jams have gone. New Street station is the next on the list - and it is a bit unfair to blame Birmingham for the failings of Virgin Trains! I will own up to being a born and bred Brummie however, and to having spent three years at college there in the dim and distant past. I lived for a year on the Hagley Road, and the rest in Moseley, on the Number 1 bus route, which was brilliant.
Be careful what you say about bankers, my husband works for a bank in Colmore Row, but for the rest -it's not just Birmingham!

[Tony Francis]

Dear Lucy: Either with or without kids, you frequently register on my elite list - usually from #1 to #10. You have been know to jump from #26 to #9, for no apparent reason. I have never known anyone from UCL. But that shouldn't keep me from having an opinion about the school should it?

[Tony Francis]

Dear Richard: Not only am I prejudiced, but also fickle and easily swayed. Seeing that UCL is listed anywhere from #6 to #25 has made me change my mind. I think you are deserving of great esteem. I am disappointed that you didn't want to try to persuade me. I think you are a quitter. But a quitter deserving of great respect. I still don't understand how UCL can jump from #25 to #9 on one list in one year. Maybe because I didn't attend one of those listed schools, I am just dense. But I don't get it.
Dear Paolo: You are correct. Bartok is superior. He is superior in all cases, except when he is inferior to Shostakovitch.

[Lucy (without kids. Yet)]

Richard, for what it's worth, UCL people I've known have all seemed both pleasant and very intelligent. But then, I perhaps don't register on Tony's elite list either!

[xjy]

All this nonsense about lists! The big one (Shanghai isn't it?) gives its criteria, and you don't have to agree with them. For one thing, apart from the flinging at you of original seminal stuff to read from day one, there's the combination of education (as opposed to Gradgrind's stuff "facts" into the little oiks - stuffing sausages they call it here) AND knowledge.

Someone called education "what's left after you've forgotten everything you learned" Well and good, only I'd change that into "everything you were ever
taught". People love learning, but they don't like being taught... (My quote, as far as I know :-) Cambridge, most of the time, helps you learn in
a way I have rarely met elsewhere, and a surprising amount sticks and is more timeless than it has any right to be. You can get down to first principles - sets you up for life.

One of the most useful exchanges I had there was with a tutor I didn't really have much use for otherwise. "What did you mean by this??" he asked.
"blah-di-blah", I answered. "Then why, for heaven's sake, didn't you write it?" Another useful perspective on method was the more commonplace "Don't
hang out your intellectual washing" when you write something.

A fellow student once astounded me when I was talking to him. He looked at me with pity and said: "You're really interested in all this, aren't you?",
as if I was a freak. He was after a cushy academic job, found one at one of the least prestigious universities (back before the big bang, so to say) and
has probably taken an early pension. The best thing about this is that one of his students is now my colleague here, so I get a perspective on his
career and teaching from the horse's mouth.

One last thing before I finish, about US "education" (in the old days?). I was horrified to hear that it was common a) to steal course books from the
library, or b) to tear out the relevant pages, for no other reason than to prevent rival students (no fellowship there) from being able to do the work
set them and to enhance their own chances of grabbing the good grades.

[Jerker Feuk]

Poor XJY. Didn't make it up to Uppsala. I had to since it was the only place in Sweden where I could do celtic studies. Boy, was I academically lucky. I was about the only student with great tutors and the big names now and then being flown in. I just couldn't keep myself from picking the delis from the academic smorgasbord. That I eventually got hired by an investment bank is a completely different story but my celtic studies at Uppsala were definitely no obstacle to that. Being favoured with an early retirement I'm back at the smorgasbord and I'm glad I was unaware of any existing or non-existing rating of Uppsala. Studying at a university at the outskirt of Europe I couldn't afford being insular. I had to try becoming continental. As a result I'm a quite fluent reader in English, German, French and Dutch. Without any shame I confess I enjoy watching all of you toiling away in the academic soap opera.

[Richard]

If Tony F can't help himself, I suppose I can't help him either. I shall just have to continue taking pride in my UCL degree, and try to learn to live without his high opinion...
All best,
Richard

[Paulo]

Jackie, about Birmingham. I fled the place a nervous wreck six years ago and have still not quite recovered. I was living in a street charmingly called "Dogpool Road", not far from the University, and there was a number 45 bus that would take you somewhere near it, but the journey was dangerous even if you were sitting down, and trying to pay your fare even was a risk. The drivers were so ill-tempered it has become proverbial: "As bad-tempered as a Birmingham bus-driver". I was once actually thrown off by one who thought I had not paid my fare, though indeed and of course I had. He refused to start until I alighted. Then there were my efforts to get across the city centre to the University of Aston - the road works and traffic jams made it impossible in less than about three hours, the buses get unbearably hot if the sun is shining, and if you ask to get off, they will not let you, because it's against regulations to open the doors if it's not a bus stop. Even walking across the city centre was impossible. I think that every time I went out of doors, some such thing happened. Have you never had dealings with Birmingham Estate agents, banks, solicitors, supermarket employees? As for the trains, well once I ended up in Cheltenham instead of the University, with a crowd of others, because Virgin had got their announcements wrong in New Street. Even the place names are horrible . Whenever I get cross even now, I console myself by repeating "ALINOB, ALINOB" - At Least It's Not Birmingham.

Tony, you are quite wrong about Bartok. Try his short opera Bluebeard's Castle. If it doesn't send you, nothing will.

Paulo

[Tony Francis]

Looking about the web, there are many rankings of universities. This one ranks the University College of London at #25:
http://www.ulinks.com/topuniversities.htm
It says there is an element of subjectivity in their rankings.
This one has UCL at #26:
http://www.analogik.com/universities.asp
Apparently there is no subjectivity in their ranking. At least they don't indicate there is.
This one has UCL ranked #6 of European schools:
http://www.4icu.org/topEurope/
This one ranks UCL at #9 although it was #25 the year before:
http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2007/overall_rankings/top_100_universities
I guess I just don't get it. How can a university jump from #26 to #9 in one year? Even though I know nothing about UCL, it still seems as though it is ranked way too high. That is my opinion. None of the schools I attended even made the list. The University of Kansas School of Medicine easily ranks in the top ten of any list you want to make. If you doubt this, just go up there and ask them. They will assure it is true. Same thing goes for the undergrad Jayhawker school. I was at Princeton on an advisory panel. The girls I ran into in Princeton bars from Rutgers generally acted like any thing that came out of their bodily orifces had no odor. So, I am surprised Rutgers didn't make any of the lists. On the other hand, Princeton girls seemed earthy, in a peasant sort of way. Any list that leaves off Wichita State U. is just wrong. I think this whole thing is just bogus.
PS. The law schools I went to in Nevada and California didn't make the list either. It is just BOGUS, man!!

[byebye]

I'm a grad student at Berkeley and I've been attending the Sather lectures. We're really honored to have Mary here this year! I've also just been introduced to her blog, which is great fun to read.

As an international student though, I have to say that these rankings have to be taken with a (huge) pinch of salt. Does anyone seriously believe that the University of British Columbia (35) ranks ahead of Berkeley (36)? The fact that the only other US public university (Michigan) above Berkeley is ranked 18 spots higher (gasp, is it that much better?) makes this list even more entertaining to read. Cm'on, even Ann Arbor doesn't even have treesitters:)

Full Disclosure: I graduated from LSE. To see it 44 spots below Strand Poly (King's) is pretty depressing!

[anthony alcock]

Lidwina. A philosopher friend, when opening an expensive bottle of whisky, would often say: "It's not so much the spirit of the age that matters, but rather the age of the spirit."

[Tony Francis]

Mary, thanks for the info. I had presumed my prejudice was directed at University College of London. In full disclosure, it must be admitted the only thing I know about UCL were some papers they wrote about retrieving DNA from graves, trying to identify syphilis and other diseases in the long dead.
http://www.acronymfinder.com/UCL.html
While that paper appeared to be factually accurate, I still must admit to being generally against all things "UCL" - not for any particular reason, though.

[Lucy]

Isn't this all a bit precious? I mean, we know Harvard and Yale and Oxford and Cambridge are good places to study. It's also obvious that there are strong departments in lots of other places. I've just had my first week as a postgraduate and honestly, whereever people have come from in the first place, the most obvious thing is that we're all brought together by being thrilled by the same subject.

[Mary]

Tony -- Let me (as one who a few months ago didnt know what CAL was)) put you out of your misery. MBulley was taking the piss. It's University College London, where - as it happens -- my daughter went.

[Tony Francis]

Before this discussion goes any further, please inform me what "UCL" means - so I can know what I am prejudiced against.

[Newn1]

Richard: "On the other hand, I think that Oxbridge academics have to work even harder than the rest of us: all of those tutorials with only one or two students make for horrifying numbers of contact hours. I hope the students are appropriately grateful (but I bet they aren't!)."

Re: That Bracket...Some of us really, really are.