Rankings

The rankings for the Times Higher Education’s Student Experience Survey (SES) are now in their 10th annual release. This year, as with all other years of the survey, the research has been conducted by YouthSight.

Here we reveal the answers to some of the key methodological questions.

What are the questions behind the SES?

Since the introduction of fees, the expectations of students and parents have never been higher when it comes to learning resources. A draughty building, unimproved since its opening in the 1960s, and lacking modern texts and wi-fi, won’t be tolerated, and the message has got through to universities.

It’s no secret that the quality of accommodation provided to undergraduates is extremely important to their university experience. Yet of all the responses to the Student Experience Survey, satisfaction with accommodation has consistently been ranked poorly. This year, the average rating for the accommodation composite was 5.2 out of 7, the lowest in all the categories.

Since the election last July of the hard-Left Malia Bouattia as president of the National Union of Students, the body, which claims to represent 7 million students, has been riven by dissent.

Dissatisfaction with some of Bouattia’s flagship policies and accusations of anti-Semitism have resulted in fellow NUS executive members “plotting” to oust her from her post. Meanwhile, a number of individual students’ unions have sought to disaffiliate from the national organisation.

It doesn’t take long for visitors to Harper Adams University to notice the relaxed, down-to-earth vibe on campus. Whether it is the students’ union president padding around his office in bright red socks, the group of welly-clad young women taking a dog for a walk or seeing the warm and welcoming Amanda Price at the student services centre, it soon becomes clear that this is an institution apart.

University applicants can now predict the cost of studying around the world with a new cost calculator for the top 200 universities covering 27 different countries.

The tool, created by currency experts at FairFX and released ahead of the Ucas deadline in January 2017, reveals that Germany is the most affordable study destination for UK students looking to go abroad.

Switzerland, Germany and Sweden are the best destinations for students looking to have a successful career abroad, according to new research into expatriate employment.

Europe is judged to be the best region overall, even though expat earnings and benefits are below the survey average.

Nonetheless, more than half the expats working in Europe say that the work culture is an improvement compared with their home country.

In just over a year since Times Higher Education – Student was launched, we’ve published more than 300 articles revealing the latest university rankings and data insights, offering expert advice on going to university, giving student voices a platform to share their experiences and highlighting trends affecting students in higher education.

At the top of the agenda in 2016 were some key issues within higher education and beyond: Brexit and its potential impact, tuition fees, student satisfaction and graduate employability.

View the full Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings 2017 results

Studying at college in the United States can be notoriously expensive, particularly for “out-of-state” students, which often includes international students.

ShanghaiRanking Consultancy has released the top universities in five broad subject fields, as part of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2016.

The ARWU-FIELD 2016 ranks the best universities for Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences, Life and Agriculture Sciences, Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy, and Social Sciences.