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University league tables 'misleading'
Figures are damaging to students and university system, claims leading professor
University league tables have been criticised as both misleading and financially damaging by a leading academic.
Professor Les Ebdon, vice-chancellor at the University of Bedfordshire, made the claims following a report published by the Higher Education Funding Council For England (Hefce).
And he reckoned the culture of ranking was harmful for both students and the English university system as a whole.
Prof Ebdon said: "There is a genuine concern that the league tables are dictating the behaviour of universities.
"For example, many of them give a score for how many A-level points students have. That scares universities off from taking students who come to university from non-traditional routes.
"Of course, that is the opposite of what the Government is trying to achieve."
He added: "The other concern is that people do not understand that the tables are not officially sanctioned, or produced by the Government. Very often they are made to sell newspapers.
"That is particularly damaging with overseas students because, with no official statistics, there is an increasing tendency to only send students from abroad to a university in the top 20.
"Those universities cannot take all the students, so you will see a reduction in how many students come from abroad. But foreign students are worth 3.5 billion to the UK economy every year – that is more than the aeronautics industry."
Prof Ebdon stressed that he was speaking from a position of strength, as his university had steadily climbed the league tables in recent years.
And he said that the University of Bedfordshire was committed to welcoming foreign students and those from non-traditional routes into further education.
He said: "Around 25 per cent of our students come from countries outside the UK, so we are committed to being a diverse university.
"We think that is a good thing for our students. They are going to live in the global village, and their first exposure to that will be at university."
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Sunday 05 February 2012
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