University guide in the Guardian

The latest edition of the Guardian’s university rankings has been published this week

The latest edition of the Guardian’s university rankings has been published this week. Rankings of academic institutions should always be taken with a pinch of salt, and I wouldn’t especially recommend making a final choice on the basis of one institution being ranked one or two places above another.

But ratings given for quality of teaching are useful pointers to the kind of education you will receive as an undergraduate. Bear in mind that the research intensive universities that top the rankings lists overall don’t always focus on delivering good courses at degree level, often leaving much of the teaching and assessment to graduate students rather than the high profile academics whose books you may be led to read.

They can also be useful for pointing potential applicants in the direction of a university they may not have considered given its strength in a particular subject area.

In the case of Politics the usual suspects are listed, although Essex (arguably one of the top three institutions in Europe for its research in the subject) fares surprisingly badly.

Full rankings can be found here

A hard copy may be a useful purchase for the supporting articles.