Reputation is key for universities

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Students continue to choose universities based on reputation and history rather than quality of teaching and cost, research suggests.

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A new study has found that the idea that students now pick institutions based on factors which the university can control, like price and degree content, is "questionable".

Instead the traditional pecking order remains, with individuals preferring older, Russell Group institutions over newer ones.

The study, by researchers at Edinburgh University, analysed application and entrance data for universities in England and Scotland from 1996 to 2010.Universities were split into four categories – leading Russell Group institutions, others that were universities before 1992 when higher education was expanded, former polytechnics that became universities after 1992, and other institutions that offer higher education but do not have university status.The researchers looked for changes in application patterns to see if there had been any movement over the years in the universities preferred by students.They also examined the quality of qualifications held by students who applied to each university.The paper argues that if the introduction of tuition fees led to a move towards a market-based system, with universities competing on areas they can control, like teaching quality, content and price, this could lead to changes in the universities preferred by students.But the study found a "stable hierarchy", with students in 1996 and 2010 preferring Russell Group universities, and concludes there is "no evidence" that distinctions in status have become less important.

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Education

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Reputation is key for universities

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