Just to clarify, I did actually mean the message that I sent yesterday
to be a joke. I should have learned by now that my jokes often don't
carry too well by email (or even verbally). Close as the LSE is to my
heart, I have actually been quite critical of league tables of this sort
as applied to health care, and I think the same arguments probably more
or less apply when ranking universities (although I'm generally in
favour of ranking health care organisations within a country - I have to
square that circle somehow - I guess it has to do with having a very
clear consensus of what the performance criteria should be). Many of us
try to do our best. What more can we do? I attach a very short piece
that I wrote critiquing health care system league tables. No doubt some
will take offence at that now too.
Best,
Adam
<<Note for September 2010 EHPG.doc>>
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Actually, I think we're number 1 in the universe.
-----------------------------
* Latest university league table ranks LSE as third in the UK and as the
top London university
The Times Good Universities Guide published today ranks LSE as the third
best university in the UK, only behind Oxford and Cambridge, and as the
top university in London.
LSE has therefore climbed up two places, from being ranked the fifth
best university in the same league table in 2010, to third place this
year.
The School has improved in a number of the categories that are included
in the ranking, including student satisfaction, research quality, and
its student-staff ratio.
The guide also shows that LSE is the university with the most
undergraduate applications by place, with more than 14 applications for
every place.
Professor Stuart Corbridge, pro-director for research and external
relations, said: 'League tables like this can offer only a partial
snapshot of universities' performance and they must be treated with some
caution. Nevertheless, we are very pleased to see LSE rise to third
place in the university rankings overall, and to first place in London.
It is particularly pleasing to see the School's high ranking in terms of
research quality, which partly echoes the findings from the Research
Assessment Exercise of 2008, which found LSE to have the highest
percentage of world-leading research of all universities in the
country.'
The Times Good University Guide 2012 league table is available to view
at www.thetimes.co.uk/gug
<http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/education/gooduniversityguide/> .
Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic communications disclaimer: http://lse.ac.uk/emailDisclaimer
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