Differences between UK universities league tables

The Guardian’s league table relies heavily on the student experience and it does not include a measure of research output, while The Times and the Complete University Guide lean more towards facts and figures including research.

League tables are often closely bunched together at the top, middle and bottom, so don't read too much into universities placed five to 10 places apart – a university in 20th place is usually separated by the one in 30th by only a few percentage points. This is also why some unis and courses fluctuate from year to year – small differences in score can mean big differences in placing.

The League Tables, which usually focus on the full-time undergraduate student experience, commonly omit reference to Birkbeck, University of London, and the Open University, both of which specialise in teaching part-time students. These universities, however, often make a strong showing in specialist league tables looking at research, teaching quality, and student satisfaction. In the REF 2014, Birkbeck was placed equal 46rd, and the Open University 54rd, out of 128 institutions on research power. And the 2009 student satisfaction survey placed the Open University 3rd and Birkbeck 13th out of 153 universities and higher education institutions (1st and 6th, respectively, among multi-faculty universities).

League tables also omit small specialist institutions such as Glasgow School of Art and Royal College of Art. Small institutions that appear in fewer than eight subject tables do not appear in the main ranking of universities. These institutions only appear in the subject tables.