The Russell Group of universities is a “hollow brand” with only a handful of outstanding members and should not be used as a byword for success, the former head of Ucas has said.
Mary Curnock Cook, who was the chief executive of the admissions service for more than seven years, described the group of 24 universities as “self-selecting and self-promoting” and not deserving of the reputation for being “elite”.
She said: “The Russell Group includes perhaps four or five genuinely outstanding universities, including, of course, Oxford and Cambridge. But amongst the rest there are some very modest performers. Some of their members would struggle to make the top 40 or 50 universities on many measures of student progress. A few score poorly on teaching quality too.
“I have yet to see any research into students’ preferences for their university choices which includes ‘large research intensive’ as an indicator, but this is the common factor amongst Russell Group members. It has become a hugely successful if hollow ‘brand’ which is sadly distorting the market, student choice and political thinking.”
She added that the group had a disproportionate number of undergraduates who were white and middle-class, “including a massive over-representation of the independently educated”. They paid lip service to widening participation while leaving other universities to do the harder work of opening up a world of opportunity through higher education to those from lower-income groups.
“More diversity at the ‘top’ of the sector would mean more diversity in the whole sector. Mixing socio-economic backgrounds in all universities would give a better outcome for all students.”
Curnock Cook is non-executive director of the Student Loans Company, a trustee of the Higher Education Policy Institute and chairs the UPP Foundation’s Student Futures Commission.
She said there was too much snobbery against former polytechnics and that the government was selective in the institutions from which it wanted to root out poor-quality courses.
She noted that some “outstanding” universities were not included in the Russell Group and suggested that there should be entry criteria that allowed eligible institutions to join and for others to be relegated.
Dr Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group, said more than half its members were in the top 100 of the QS World University Rankings for 2022. He said: “In the recent Research Excellence Framework exercise, 91 per cent of our research was rated ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ and we draw on this extensively to underpin the educational experience we give our students.
“Our members work hard to give everyone with the drive and determination to go to university the opportunity to do so. These comments are an unfair attack on the work they do with schools, parents, community groups and many others to help young people.
“As well as access and outreach programmes, our universities also work with schools and colleges, offering resources, training and even running academy trusts to help drive up attainment and give more young people the chance to succeed .
“The proportion of 18-year-olds from some of the most disadvantaged areas entering English Russell Group universities has increased every year for the last seven years and we are determined to continue that trend.”
He added that Russell Group universities had low dropout rates and gave students of all backgrounds the potential for good future earnings.
Almost one in four students accepted by Oxford for this autumn is from a deprived background, the university said yesterday.
However, its state school acceptance rate for the 3,210 students to be admitted has stalled, with almost one in three of Oxford’s new intake coming from private schools.
To date, 23 per cent of UK undergraduate places had been confirmed to pupils from the least advantaged backgrounds, a spokesman said, an increase from 22 per cent last year and 13 per cent four years ago.
Brampton Manor, a state school in east London where half of pupils are on free school meals, is sending 85 pupils to Oxford and Cambridge this year. Harris Westminster Sixth Form, which takes many pupils from poorer backgrounds, had 36 of its leavers accepted at Oxbridge this year. Universities with places available through clearing have been inundated with “extremely high-achieving students”, an admissions tutor has said.
Places available at the top universities have dropped to the lowest level in at least four years.
Last night, only 566 clearing courses remained at Russell Group universities, while the overall number of courses still available was down to 23,868.
Welcome to the British class system. We make this shit up.
>She added that the group had a disproportionate number of undergraduates who were white and middle-class, “including a massive over-representation of the independently educated”.
That’s to be expected of popular universities. These are the groups of people who tend to get the best exam results and have the most opportunities to do a bunch of extracurricular activities that universities love to see on applications.
It’s not really a problem you can solve by telling universities to take students who are objectively less likely to perform well, or even to finish their degrees at all. You have to fix that problem at its root, so that more students from other backgrounds grow up to become attractive candidates in their own right.
Unfortunately, that’s a *very* tough thing to achieve, and takes a long time before results can be seen.
Graduated 12 years ago and never heard of the term Russell Group…
As a graduate from a RG uni, I can say this is 100% true. I was a grammar school boy and felt like I was a poor relation amongst all the private schools, private tutors and boarding schools. It was very white, very upper class and very much full of slackers. You were more likely to find a student who had a gap year in Australia or Thailand than a part time job. Many just appeared to be whacking up huge debts on a giant 3 year bender that their parents would have to pay off.
The teaching was shoddy to pointless with many courses being weak and uninspiring. One tutor just recommended his own book and appeared to be paid to push us into buying this. They had international students that didn’t appear to have any English language skills, but were given PAC (pass after consideration) each year. It felt like the Russell group heading was more important than actual delivering a valid qualification
It’s the result of the points system (that UCAS administers).
The Russell Group universities don’t need to be any good at progressing students, they just require the highest grades, which means the students who get the highest grades apply (rather than somewhere they might actually learn more) and in turn are sought after by employers (and thus, the university is able to continue asking for high grades).
I attended an RG university and have since moved to New Zealand. Most university courses here have a single admission standard (roughly, CCC), which equates to the level at which a student would be suited to benefit from the course. If a course gets oversubscribed the places go to the first to apply, or they schedule larger lecture rooms and hire more grad students.
Generally, the new grads we employ are as smart or smarter than in England (it may be harder to actually pass your degree here), so the UK system is not, as is claimed, essential to keep up “standards”.
So, I’d recommend replacing A levels with a competency based system, making Oxbridge and maybe Imperial/Bristol/LSE postgrad only and having a number of universities/faculties able to offer honours degrees, with the remaining former polys and borstals limited to foundation level education, with a well designed transfer /credit system. Won’t happen though, would undermine the ability of the middle classes to replicate.
6 comments
The Russell Group of universities is a “hollow brand” with only a handful of outstanding members and should not be used as a byword for success, the former head of Ucas has said.
Mary Curnock Cook, who was the chief executive of the admissions service for more than seven years, described the group of 24 universities as “self-selecting and self-promoting” and not deserving of the reputation for being “elite”.
She said: “The Russell Group includes perhaps four or five genuinely outstanding universities, including, of course, Oxford and Cambridge. But amongst the rest there are some very modest performers. Some of their members would struggle to make the top 40 or 50 universities on many measures of student progress. A few score poorly on teaching quality too.
“I have yet to see any research into students’ preferences for their university choices which includes ‘large research intensive’ as an indicator, but this is the common factor amongst Russell Group members. It has become a hugely successful if hollow ‘brand’ which is sadly distorting the market, student choice and political thinking.”
She added that the group had a disproportionate number of undergraduates who were white and middle-class, “including a massive over-representation of the independently educated”. They paid lip service to widening participation while leaving other universities to do the harder work of opening up a world of opportunity through higher education to those from lower-income groups.
“More diversity at the ‘top’ of the sector would mean more diversity in the whole sector. Mixing socio-economic backgrounds in all universities would give a better outcome for all students.”
Curnock Cook is non-executive director of the Student Loans Company, a trustee of the Higher Education Policy Institute and chairs the UPP Foundation’s Student Futures Commission.
She said there was too much snobbery against former polytechnics and that the government was selective in the institutions from which it wanted to root out poor-quality courses.
She noted that some “outstanding” universities were not included in the Russell Group and suggested that there should be entry criteria that allowed eligible institutions to join and for others to be relegated.
Dr Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group, said more than half its members were in the top 100 of the QS World University Rankings for 2022. He said: “In the recent Research Excellence Framework exercise, 91 per cent of our research was rated ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ and we draw on this extensively to underpin the educational experience we give our students.
“Our members work hard to give everyone with the drive and determination to go to university the opportunity to do so. These comments are an unfair attack on the work they do with schools, parents, community groups and many others to help young people.
“As well as access and outreach programmes, our universities also work with schools and colleges, offering resources, training and even running academy trusts to help drive up attainment and give more young people the chance to succeed .
“The proportion of 18-year-olds from some of the most disadvantaged areas entering English Russell Group universities has increased every year for the last seven years and we are determined to continue that trend.”
He added that Russell Group universities had low dropout rates and gave students of all backgrounds the potential for good future earnings.
Almost one in four students accepted by Oxford for this autumn is from a deprived background, the university said yesterday.
However, its state school acceptance rate for the 3,210 students to be admitted has stalled, with almost one in three of Oxford’s new intake coming from private schools.
To date, 23 per cent of UK undergraduate places had been confirmed to pupils from the least advantaged backgrounds, a spokesman said, an increase from 22 per cent last year and 13 per cent four years ago.
Brampton Manor, a state school in east London where half of pupils are on free school meals, is sending 85 pupils to Oxford and Cambridge this year. Harris Westminster Sixth Form, which takes many pupils from poorer backgrounds, had 36 of its leavers accepted at Oxbridge this year. Universities with places available through clearing have been inundated with “extremely high-achieving students”, an admissions tutor has said.
Places available at the top universities have dropped to the lowest level in at least four years.
Last night, only 566 clearing courses remained at Russell Group universities, while the overall number of courses still available was down to 23,868.
Welcome to the British class system. We make this shit up.
>She added that the group had a disproportionate number of undergraduates who were white and middle-class, “including a massive over-representation of the independently educated”.
That’s to be expected of popular universities. These are the groups of people who tend to get the best exam results and have the most opportunities to do a bunch of extracurricular activities that universities love to see on applications.
It’s not really a problem you can solve by telling universities to take students who are objectively less likely to perform well, or even to finish their degrees at all. You have to fix that problem at its root, so that more students from other backgrounds grow up to become attractive candidates in their own right.
Unfortunately, that’s a *very* tough thing to achieve, and takes a long time before results can be seen.
Graduated 12 years ago and never heard of the term Russell Group…
As a graduate from a RG uni, I can say this is 100% true. I was a grammar school boy and felt like I was a poor relation amongst all the private schools, private tutors and boarding schools. It was very white, very upper class and very much full of slackers. You were more likely to find a student who had a gap year in Australia or Thailand than a part time job. Many just appeared to be whacking up huge debts on a giant 3 year bender that their parents would have to pay off.
The teaching was shoddy to pointless with many courses being weak and uninspiring. One tutor just recommended his own book and appeared to be paid to push us into buying this. They had international students that didn’t appear to have any English language skills, but were given PAC (pass after consideration) each year. It felt like the Russell group heading was more important than actual delivering a valid qualification
It’s the result of the points system (that UCAS administers).
The Russell Group universities don’t need to be any good at progressing students, they just require the highest grades, which means the students who get the highest grades apply (rather than somewhere they might actually learn more) and in turn are sought after by employers (and thus, the university is able to continue asking for high grades).
I attended an RG university and have since moved to New Zealand. Most university courses here have a single admission standard (roughly, CCC), which equates to the level at which a student would be suited to benefit from the course. If a course gets oversubscribed the places go to the first to apply, or they schedule larger lecture rooms and hire more grad students.
Generally, the new grads we employ are as smart or smarter than in England (it may be harder to actually pass your degree here), so the UK system is not, as is claimed, essential to keep up “standards”.
So, I’d recommend replacing A levels with a competency based system, making Oxbridge and maybe Imperial/Bristol/LSE postgrad only and having a number of universities/faculties able to offer honours degrees, with the remaining former polys and borstals limited to foundation level education, with a well designed transfer /credit system. Won’t happen though, would undermine the ability of the middle classes to replicate.