Humanities at Warwick fall in 2019 Complete University Guide rankings

University of Warwick has dropped from top five and top ten positions across the humanities, in The Complete University Guide rankings for 2019. 

While the University still ranks within the top ten overall across various league tables, a position that the university claims it has ‘always’ maintained, it has still fallen by one place from 8th to 9th.

However, other significant drops can be seen across the board. While last year Warwick was listed in the top five for Politics and Philosophy, Politics has fallen by two places to 6th, and Philosophy by five places to 9th.

For History and English, the University has fallen out of the top ten, with a drop in History from 6th to 12th. English has suffered a similar fall from 9th to 14th.

A second-year English student responded to the rankings by suggesting that the university “seems to care much more about the business side than the welfare of students”.

One second-year History student described the falls as a “massive shock”, while one History and Sociology student expressed that the results were not surprising.

“The standard of teaching has been lower than I expected this year and despite the interesting modules, my tutors do not engage with me or the content to keep my interest”.

The standard of teaching has been lower than I expected this year and despite the interesting modules, my tutors do not engage with me or the content to keep my interest

— Second Year History and Sociology student

A similar sentiment was also shared by first-year Politics student Rachel Seager: “I think it’s understandable if it’s based on student satisfaction. Based on my experience, seminar tutors and lecturers aren’t consistent with what they teach us and overall there’s a lot of confusion about course content and whether we’re actually doing things right.”

Further falls can also be seen in Law from 12th to 16th. In contrast, the University still maintains its place at top of the rankings for Creative Writing.

However, the University has seen improvements across the Sciences and Maths this year. While not in the top ten, Biological Sciences saw the biggest jump, from 19th to 11th.

Computer Sciences and Maths now rank in the top five in the country this year, respectively from 7th and from 6th.

Improvements can also be seen in General Engineering by two places, from 8th to 6th, and Chemistry, from 9th to 7th, whilst in the social sciences Economics and Business at Warwick Business School are still ranked 3rd in the country.

In a press release by the University this morning, it was confirmed that Warwick is in the top ten for 19 out of 28 of the subjects it teaches.

In response to the rankings, the University of Warwick expressed that students must take individual league tables “with a pinch of salt”.

“They differ in how they calculate things. However, the fact that we are in the top ten for all of them suggests Warwick is indeed highly regarded and will continue to be highly attractive to students and staff”.

“In the case of English, you will see that it is in fact split over three rankings and one of those (Creative Writing) is actually ranked at number one in the UK.”

While students have shared concerns over teaching and course content above, the University of Warwick was seen to lower entry requirements last year on A-Level results day, with 17 departments entering subjects into clearing.