Studying in the UK (2) : The Dreaded Times Good University Guide

Your first duty to your good parents after you’ve decided that you are both intelligent and responsible enough to dump Bt1.5 million in the UK is to find an English university which will give you your money’s worth. Unfortunately, in this vain and shallow world, your money’s worth will not only be measured by how much knowledge you gain, but also by the reputation your university of choice will provide you in the future.

We are all suckers for university rankings and the market has been happy to oblige, with a myriad number of sometimes rather questionable university league tables. The Times Good University Guide (TGUG) is accepted as the King of the UK University League tables, followed at a distance by The Guardian’s University Guide. As the book editors claim in the 2007 edition, ‘When the Times Good University Guide first appeared almost 15 years ago, it helped to explore the myth that any British degree was as good as any other’.

To cut to the chase, go online and try to understand the rankings table. Then apply to Oxford or Cambridge in any of the subjects they offer. You really don’t need to read any further. These are the only two universities a Thai person will recognize immediately, regardless of your area of study. Their reputation will immediately class you as an intellectual giant and your future is pretty much assured.

If you are still reading, it’s because of one of two reasons. Oxbridge doesn’t offer a degree subject you want to study, or you simply aren’t qualified enough to get into either one of them. I’m afraid that things get more complicated for you from here on.

You pretty much have two choices to go on from now. Your first is to look down the rankings and pick from the rest of the top ten universities. Yes, this is what you would do if you are irredeemably shallow, vain, and pretty much guaranteed to waste your parent’s money.

Your second choice is to do what any diligent student would, and research your area of study carefully. Pretty much any respectable UK university will be home to a department which boasts lecturers with world class knowledge, and often offering higher quality degrees than even Oxbridge. One way is to look at the ‘research assessment exercise’ (RAE) which rates the department from 1 to 5*. If a department gets a 5*, the highest rating, half or more of the research submitted to the UK funding councils are of international excellence.

To you and me, that means more people world-wide talk about the research that department produces and accept the scholars in that department to be world-class. It means very famous lecturers will be sharing their cutting-edge research with you. Note though that there are ways to influence the RAE, which the departments are very knowledgeable about.

There are several more criterions in selecting a good university and I’ll share the less technical side with you in my next blog, but consider this exercise your first challenge in choosing to do a degree in the UK. If you’re not capable enough to point out the best departments in your area of study at the snap of the finger when asked, you pretty much don’t belong here. I consider this the most rigorous test of your ability to study abroad.

You will have miserably failed the test though, if someone asks you why you went to your chosen university and you reply, ‘because it is ranked in the top ten of the Times Good University Guide’. So what, really!