Why does UCL rank so low in the Times Good University Guide?
Goodness knows. Were in joint third place in the Guardian! I think that the only conclusion to draw is that the league tables don’t tell you much! There’s no such thing as a “best” department really – only what’s best for you. The location, course content, friendliness, number of bars nearby and many many other factors which the newspapers can’t really gauge will all help you decide where you want to study. Ultimately there is no substitute for visiting the departments you like the look of to see what they are really like. This is why we make sure that everyone who is interested in joining us at UCL has a chance to visit us, to look around and to chat to our current students. A more objective comparison between departments (which doesn’t attempt to make any rankings) as well as a whole host of other information about potential employers etc. can be found from the “Insite Guide” produced by the New Civil Engineer magazine.
It is difficult to say for sure. Certainly they are missing one piece of information – that 100% of our students go on to either full time employment or further study. In fact we think that over 90% of our graduates take jobs in the civil engineering profession with the average salary being around £23 000. The teaching quality assessment is presumably the key factor in the ranking. Our score of 19 out of 24 has turned out to be particularly low in comparison to other Civil Engineering courses. We feel that we have been very harshly assessed and that our teaching quality is excellent and that feedback from our students provides further evidence. But I suppose we would say that, wouldn’t we? A more useful comparison between departments as well as a whole host of other information about potential employers etc. can be found from the “Insite Guide” produced by the New Civil Engineer magazine. The 2004 edition should be out soon.
