Warwick drops in Guardian league tables

Warwick has fallen five places from last year in the Guardian University Guide 2014.

The University placed tenth compared to fifth last year, overtaken by UCL, Durham, Bath, Surrey and Imperial College.

The rankings are based on an overall score from criteria such as National Student Survey scores, student to staff ratios and expenditure per student.

Warwick’s overall teaching score only fell by 1.9 points from 82.1 to 80.2 but other universities such as Bath increased dramatically to overtake Warwick.

But spokesperson for Warwick, Peter Dunn, said the University takes the individual league tables with “a pinch of salt”.

He said: “They each apply their own individual weightings and measures… There are at least four such national UK tables and for the last 15 years we have been ranked anywhere between fourth and tenth in  those tables.

“We continue to appear in the top ten of each table so we must be doing something right.”

Mr Dunn also suggested the tables are influenced by the paper’s desire to please its readers. He said: “They appear more interesting to each paper’s readers if they can appear different from each other and also if they can show movement up and down between years.”

However, the result could be crucial to influencing future students. According to the Guardian, research suggests students base their decisions about what courses to apply for on the Guardian Guide.

Mr Dunn was also keen to point out that six Warwick departments ranked in the top five in the UK.

In each of the individual department rankings, American Studies came first, Warwick Business School came second, Economics, Maths and Film Studies came third, and Sociology came fifth.

Mr Dunn added: “It is also pleasing to note that they describe Warwick as: ‘Consistently rated among the best universities in the country, Warwick is something of a leader in the academic field, with innovative approaches to community involvement and widening participation.’”

On the result, Warwick Students’ Union education officer James Entwistle told the Boar: “The Guardian league tables merely reaffirm the results of the NSS last year. Warwick slipped while the rest of the Russell Group improved.

“With the strategy on feedback and the improvements in study space this year, it will be interesting to see if we bounce back into the top five in the 2015 league tables.”