The Guardian Ranking Methodology

The Guardian Ranking Methodology uses a total of nine indicators of performance that covers all stages of a student’s life cycle to put together their ranking league table. However, in this article we are going to talk about the Guardian - University Rankings, the Guardian - Accounting & Finance Rankings, the Guardian - Business, Management & Marketing Rankings, the Guardian - Chemical Engineering Rankings, the Guardian - Civil Engineering Rankings, the Guardian - Electronic & Electrical Engineering Rankings and the Guardian - Mechanical Engineering Rankings. All the rankings use similar parameters which have been explained below.

The Guardian Ranking methodology data focuses on full-time first degree students and includes taking into account staff and resources that have been dedicated to past students. Student satisfaction and career prospects are the other major contributors to the Guardian ranking methodology. Let us study each indicator in detail and know how much each parameter contributes to the overall ranking spree.

The Guardian Ranking Methodology - Indicators

Given below is a list of parameters along with their weightage that is taken into account while computing the Guardian ranking table. 

Indicator	Weightage
Entry Standards	15%
Student Staff Ratio	15%
Expenditure per student	5%
Continuation	10%
Teaching Quality	10%
Feedback	10%
Overall Satisfaction	5%
Value-Added Services	15%
Career Prospects	15%

Now that we have understood the parameters used in the Guardian ranking methodology. Let us closely examine what each parameter stands for.

Entry Standards

This takes into account the grades of students who are most likely to get admission into their department of study. Candidates should note, this is not the eligibility criteria for admission to the course but for prospective students to understand and anticipate the average grades required for admission from students for joining the department of the university.  

Student Staff Ratio

The Student-Staff Ratio (SSR) parameter takes into account the staff contact that a student can expect while pursuing his course. The student-staff ratio takes into account the total number of students who are taking modules in a subject and dividing this by the number of staff who are available to teach the same. A lower ratio would indicate that a higher number of teachers are available per student, which would indicate a high quality of education.

Expenditure per Student

This includes academic resources available per student studying in a particular department. This is measured taking into account the total expenditure in each subject area and dividing it by the total number of students taking a particular subject. Academic services of the past two years such as computing facilities, laboratories, and libraries are taken into account while calculating.

Continuation

Pursing a degree level course is a positive experience, however, a lot of times students who enroll in their first year are unable to complete their studies and drop out. This indicator looks at the support that education providers are delivering to enable students to complete their education in their entirety. Students who repeat a year, change courses, or even migrate to a different university are grouped under this category, however, students who are inactive in the UK education system are counted negatively.

Student Satisfaction

This is made up of three main components, Teaching Quality, Student Feedback, and Overall Satisfaction. A lot of the data is sourced from the National Student Survey (NSS), which requires final year students to provide their views on 27 positive statements about their academic experience of the course and support that they received during their university tenure. The data is then condensed and used to derive the above-mentioned parameters.

• Teaching Quality: To understand the teaching quality, responses from the NSS Survey is taken and grouped into the following questions:
  • Staff are good at explaining things.
  • Staff have made the subject interesting.
  • The course is intellectually stimulating.
  • My course has challenged me to achieve my best work.
• Student Feedback: To understand the student feedback, responses from the NSS Survey is taken and combined into the following questions:
  • The criteria used in marking have been clear in advance.
  • Marking and assessment has been fair.
  • Feedback on my work has been timely.
  • I have received helpful comments on my work.
• Overall Satisfaction:  To understand the overall satisfaction of students with their courses, responses from the NSS Survey is taken and combined into the following question:
  • Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of the course.

Value-Added Scores

This includes to what extent every department in the university will support their students to achieve good grades. Students are tracked from their enrollment to graduation to understand the value-added services received by them to further their scores/grades. For this survey, it is important for at least 30 students to be in a subject for one year or 15 students each over two years to calculate the response.

Career prospects

This looks into post-university employment or further education. For this, students are given 15 months to either get graduate-level employment in any managerial, professional, or technical occupation or students can also opt for higher education as both these are treated as positive outcomes.

This is a very modest understanding of the methodology of the Guardian ranking for our readers for both Subject-wise and top university. Students who are looking for an in-depth analysis can always refer to the official website or get in touch with us in the comments below for further guidance.