UK: Boost funds for elite universities

So what conclusions can we draw from this latest university league table? Should we celebrate the fact that four of the top 10 universities in the world are British? Or should we focus on the disappointing statistic that most UK institutions have slid down the world rankings? asks Chris Woodhead, a professor of education at the University of Buckingham, in The Sunday Times.

The first question, of course, is the question we should ask of any league table: does it mean anything? Each university in this table has been assessed in terms of, first, statistical data on how often work done by its academics has been cited by other academics; on its academic staff/student ratio; and, as an index of its international reputation, on the number of overseas staff it employs and foreign students it is educating.

More controversially, its ranking also depends on two opinion surveys. Academics across the world were asked to name the premier institution in their discipline, and employers what they thought of the graduates they interview and the universities, therefore, that these graduates attended.
Full report on the Sunday Times site