The University of York has re-entered the UK’s top ten elite universities in both the Guardian University League Table and The Times’ Good University Guide 2011. York has risen from 11th to 9th in both tables, whilst Lancaster, York’s rival, shoot up 13 places to 10th in the Times, and from 16th to 6 in the Guardian, overtaking York. In The Independent’s league table, which also came out in May, York remained 10th for the second year running, but was leapfrogged by Lancaster by one place for the first time in a decade.
Despite the recent re-entry into the top ten, over the last decade, York’s ranking in most league tables has gradually declined. When Brian Cantor took over as Vice Chancellor in 2002, The Guardian had York listed as the best university in the country bar Oxbridge and the top London institutions, placing us at 6th. Since then it has fallen to a low of 15th between 2006-2008 before climbing back to 9th.
The University press officer, David Garner, commented: “Our position in The Times Good University Guide and The Complete University Guide in The Independent reflects the hard work of our staff in pursuit of the highest standards in both teaching and research and further underlines York’s reputation as one of the leading universities in the UK and the world.”
This contrasts greatly with comments made by the Vice-Chancellor, back in 2008. In response to York’s decline to 16th and 15th place in The Times and The Guardian respectively, Cantor stated, “We [the university] don’t really believe league table charts.”
The league tables also show York is considerably behind in some measures, specifically graduate prospects. Although York has improved marginally in recent years, only 71.5% of graduates take up graduate-level employment or further study within six months of graduation. This ranks the university at 33rd in the country in this measure. In comparison, Bath scores 80.9% and Lancaster 77.6%.
Antonia Short, a first year Economics student commented: “It’s good to see York back in the top ten universities. But I’m slightly concerned that we’re doing so bad for graduate employment. University isn’t just about getting a job, but I find it hard to understand how at York I’m less well positioned to find work then someone at Edinburgh Napier.”
The Guardian League Tables placed York top for Social Work and in the Top 5 for Archaeology.
The Times guide also includes subject breakdowns, where York came top in the whole country for Nursing. Other departments that made the top five for their subject were: Archeology, Biology, Chemistry, History of Art, Social Policy and Social Work.
Other criteria that were used for the tables include student satisfaction, student/staff ratio and services and facilities spending.