Interview
Lifestyle
Comment Ben Bradshaw
Travel Special
Page 7
Page 16
Interview
Sport
Rob Baxter
Exeposé
Monday June 7 2010 Issue 567 www.exepose.com
Page 21
Free
Exeter loses Top 10 status
Ellie Busby News Editor
EXETER has dropped out of the top 10 universities in the UK. The University of Exeter was placed 12th out of 113 institutions across the country in The Times Good University Guide 2011. The University was ranked ninth place last year and has now fallen three places, being displaced by York, Lancaster and Edinburgh. Professor Steve Smith, Vice Chancellor of the University, has responded positively to the news. He stated, “I am very happy with top dozen.” The Good University Guide ranks the universities by eight categories, such as research quality, degree results, and student satisfaction. From this criteria, it has been recognised that both employability and studentstaff ratio are the University’s weakest areas.
“I am very happy with top dozen” Steve Smith, Vice Chancellor Prof. Steve Smith has informed students that measures are already being taken to improve these issues. The University has employed more staff to even out the unbalanced student-staff ratio. In addition, a specialist in employability has recently been hired to boost employment opportunities for graduates. Smith admitted, “Employability is the key to what we need to change.” Paradoxically, even though Exeter students are achieving high grades, they struggle to get employment after graduation compared to other universities. Regarding this difficulty Smith added, “There seems to be something in the water in Exeter”. The University of Lancaster has soared from 23rd place last year to
10th this year. One of the key reasons for this is the dramatic improvement in graduate employment. Professor Steve Smith told Exeposé that Exeter university has hired a senior member of Lancaster’s employment team in order to improve our low graduate employment rate.
Photo: Henry White
Times League Table 2011
1,000 points 1. Oxford 965 2. Cambridge 3. Imperial College 831 12 Exeter
723
The University maintains student employability has actually risen during the recession, unlike many other universities. Stuart Franklin, Director of Communications at the University, said, “We think there is still much more we can do to get students thinking earlier about the jobs they want to do when they graduate. We are beginning a big new push on this.” Speculation has mounted over the effect of the building work on the league table. Richard Stearn, Guild President, said, “The building work has had no meaningful effect on the data at this time. Student satisfaction has only dropped by 1%, which is where we would expect to see the effect of significant disruption.” A first year English student said, “The temptation is to blame the building works instead of confronting the real issues at heart.” A Masters student said, “Exeter has made huge ground in the four years I’ve been here but I feel we almost peaked too soon. Maybe we’re not quite as good as we thought we were.” A total sum of £275 million has been spent on improving campus facilities, such as the Forum Project. Professor Smith claimed, “I predict once the Forum Project is done, the University will come back up.”
University has acknowledged that employability was the main reason for our drop in Times League Table