We should all welcome Hefce’s league tables report. It confirms that the
methodologies used by the commercial organisations which currently
publish league tables for the UK’s universities lack transparency to
the extent that some tables are even adjusted if outcomes look likely to
threaten the traditional and historic ranking orders. Notwithstanding
their obvious deficiencies and failure to provide a comprehensive
picture of university activities, the report also confirms that the
tables distort university behaviour and there is no doubt that they are
detrimental to UK higher education internationally. Overseas Governments
and potential partner institutions mistakenly believe that these league
tables are endorsed by the UK Government when they are not. In fact, the
current UK university league tables and on-line guides are sponsored by
commercial organisations and they fail to provide a comprehensive guide
to quality of student experience, teaching and overall university
performance.

The UK Government and all of the UK Funding Councils should now consider
what further action can be taken to challenge the influence of these
tables particularly bearing in mind some of the headlines which have
accompanied the press reporting of this independent research.
Unsurprisingly given their commercial interests, some of these headlines
imply that the UK’s newspaper- sponsored university league tables and
guides have been given a clean bill of health. Exactly the opposite is
the case: their partiality and accuracy have both been called into
question. This another reason why there should be a robust response from
the Government and the Funding Councils to ensure that any assessment of
or guides to UK HE institutional performance used by students, parents,
partner institutions or overseas Governments, are fit for purpose.

Les Ebdon
Vice Chancellor
University of Bedfordshire