The absolute worst four Russell Group unis, according to the Office for Students’ ratings

The Office for Students (OfS) actually publishes detailed ratings of all the unis in England. Here’s a look at what OfS considers to be the best (and the absolute worst) of the Russell Group unis.

If you hadn’t got the memo, most UK unis – including the extra-fancy Russell Group unis – are really, really struggling with money right now. OfS and the Department of Education are brainstorming ways they could potentially rejig the higher education system to keep unis going. The head of the OfS has just announced that they might change the whole tuition fees system. Unis that get better ratings from OfS could be allowed to charge higher tuition fees than bottom-tier unis. So, what OfS thinks of your uni could soon make a huge difference to your life.

By the way, the Office for Students is the regulator for higher education in England. It checks up on what unis do, in a similar way to how Ofsted watches over schools in England. Every few years, it uses the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) to review all the unis in England. Unis get a rating for student experience and student outcomes, plus an overall rating. The possible ratings are gold, silver, bronze or “requires improvement”.

None of the Russell Group unis were in the “requires improvement” category, or were ranked in the bronze group. But a handful did get some bronze ratings thrown into the mix. Ouch. So, here’s a deep-dive into what OfS considers the best (and worst) of the Russell Group unis in England.

Gold tier

Four Russell Group unis got perfect ratings. The TEF regulators scored them gold all-round. These unis are the University of Cambridge, the University of Exeter, University of Oxford, and the University of Warwick.

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Cambridge looking golden

It’s not exactly a shock that Oxbridge are well-regarded. But it is a surprise that Exeter and Warwick are at the top with them. Erm, maybe we should rename it Exoxbridgewick?

Imperial College London and the University of Liverpool, were rated gold overall, but did only get a silver for student experience.

OfS put the University of York in the gold tier overall, but the uni did only get a silver for student outcomes. Fewer York grads feel their careers are on track than the students at other Russell Group unis do.

Silver tier

*Takes deep breath* Durham University, University of Bristol, King’s College London (KCL), the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the University of Manchester, the University of Nottingham, University College London (UCL) all got a gold for student outcomes, but then a silver for student experience. Their overall rating was silver.

It’s super surprising that Durham and LSE are only a silver, because they usually rank really highly in the Complete University Guide league tables.

Durham does always look kind of grey and silver in photos, to be fair

The University of Sheffield and the University of Southampton scored silver for everything, which is simple.

In the silver tier, but with some bronze ratings

These four unis were the only Russell Group unis to get a bronze for some categories. This makes them the worst Russell Group unis, according to the TEF system.

The panel gave the University of Birmingham a gold for student outcomes, but only a bronze for student experience. This dragged its rating down to silver.

Although the University of Leeds, Newcastle University and Queen Mary University of London were rated silver overall, they did receive a bronze rating for student experience. Erm, maybe we should check in on the students there?

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