Sussex’s top 200 spot is particularly bittersweet this year

If you take a stroll around campus, you can’t miss the flags boasting that Sussex is a top UK 20 university and a top 200 worldwide university, which are bolstered on every corner. This year, these claims remain true; according to the latest rankings published today by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), Sussex is officially the 187th best uni in the world. 

For university staff and new students alike, this is great news. Who wouldn’t want to teach at, manage, or attend a top university?

Sussex ranked particularly highly for its faculty-student ratio, international faculty, and among international students. The news comes just months after the National Student Survey reported that our student satisfaction rates are ever-growing.

It’s clear that we have dedicated staff and a lot of them at that, as well as a vibrant and diverse on-campus community, not to mention the infamous library pigeon and cat duo, our top YikYak game, or the nachos at East Slope.

There’s no doubting that Sussex is a great place to live, study and party, and that there have been plentiful tales of good news on campus and in town over the past few years. The SU now offers free sanitary products to students in need to help combat the Tampon Tax, Sussex has educated  researchers who are helping to change the world, and is home to the official Young Achiever of the Year.

Good news for shark week

In spite of all this, some pretty shocking things have gone down at Sussex recently. It can seem to some like protesters on campus, which are an almost daily fixture, are just looking for excuses to be angry, but this year that couldn’t be less true. Behind all the activism, the promises of safety on campus, the 2 for a quid croissants, it’s been a year of sad and shameful news.

Perhaps most shockingly, it emerged last month that the university was aware of the fact that one of their staff was sleeping with a student and kept quiet about it, even after he brutally assaulted her and was later convicted. He only left the university after both local and national news exposed the case, and the university have not yet announced if he left of his own accord.

On top of employing a violent offender, the university has been more than happy to deny Luqman Onikosi his master’s degree, despite numerous protests on campus (and even an occupation) against his deportation becoming national news stories and sparking a government petition.

Give this man his master’s

It’s clear that there have been numerous failures to protect students physically, but also digitally; this year saw the university struggling to defend itself against a huge cyber attack, throwing personal safety and deadlines into turmoil.

More minor bad news has included the fact that even though Sussex prides itself on political involvement, most of us couldn’t be bothered to vote for our elected officers.  We’re also paying way more than the national average for rent, coming in at the third most pricey student town.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get much worse, Islamophobia has also been rife on campus this year, and the Muslim student community couldn’t even count on the campus bars to serve food they could eat.

Even our treasured bars can let us down sometimes

It comes as no surprise that Vice have gone so far as to dub us one of the most evil universities in the UK, with an ‘evilness’ rating of “beyond appalling”. Even if you’re a total anti-social-justice type, you have to admit that they do kind of have a point.

We may be in the top 200 places to study in the world, but at what cost? We may never know, but at least we still absolutely destroyed Brighton again.