Students debate plan for league table of their own
According to Times Higher Education NUS conference was due to discuss a proposal that students should design their own league table:
The motion says that the ranking would address the fact that most existing league tables are determined by newspapers, sponsors and universities, but not by students themselves.
“While we should resist and fight to reverse the commodification and marketisation of higher education, there is an opportunity for NUS to produce the student movement’s own league table, focusing on the bread-and-butter provision that matters most to students,” it says. It adds that the NUS in Australia already produces its own league table, and that this has had “a major impact”.
However, the motion acknowledges that such a development here would not be without risk, because its design and compilation “would be subjected to significant scrutiny” and would need support from students’ unions across the UK.
Don’t know if this motion was passed but it is an interesting idea although it is difficult to imagine how different this league table would be from others in the market. In principle though there is no reason why such a table could not establish itself as a serious competitor. With the right support and intelligent use of the right source data it could fly.