MovieChat Forums > The Riot Club (2015) Discussion > top university in the world?

top university in the world?


Since when?

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Since 1096.

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[deleted]

What's there to question?

The top universities in the world are most unquestionably, now, and for nearly an entire millennium prior to now: Oxford (since approx. 1096) and Cambridge (1209).

Both have never been equalled let alone surpassed, neither at any time, nor in any place, and have always been institutions of unsurpassed educational excellence.



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Sandwiched between The Principle of Mediocrity & Rare Earth Theory, you should see The Fermi Paradox

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Not according to any current ranking. As usual for all things English, living in the past.

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I never heard it was the top university, although it may be respected. Tops for what? Latin and Greek? I know it's old, but that's hardly the same thing.

If I had a kid I'd want her to go to Stanford.

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Yes, it is very good for Latin and Greek, and many other subjects.

Why would you prefer that your daughter went to Stanford rather than Oxford? That is, how are you ranking universities?

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"If you ain't a marine then you ain't *beep*

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Wouldn't it be more appropriate to check where SHE'd want to go rather than where YOU'd want her to go ?

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Since 1096.


Nailed it. Right down to the full stop.

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Since the students of Harvard/Yale/other-Ivy-League-Uni say theirs is top in the world. Same with other kids about theirs in other countries. No need to take it so literally.

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Well it used to be the top, along with Cambridge, before there were any other Universities. Now it just has a big reputation which helps it in the rankings. It's very behind on a lot of stuff, especially in the humanities. This film makes me embarrassed of it, it's not really all like that. There are plenty of normal nice people who go to Oxford these days.

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It depends on which university ranking method you prefer.

Post-graduates tend to look at the number of papers published by a university, and weigh them by their impact, as measured by (say) the science citation index.

Undergraduates give more weight to anecdotal reports of how helpful their tutors were, the quality of the accomodation and food.

The overall rankings -- as released by China, the Times Higher Educational Supplement, and so on -- are a mixture of these measures. Oxford and Cambridge rarely fail to make the list of the five best universities in the world.

If these metrics were calculated retrospectively, over (say) the last 900 years, the only contenders would be Oxford, Cambridge. Bologna and Salamanca.. There's no question that Oxford and Cambridge would have the best 900 year average ranking, but they'd also have the best 500, 100 and 50 year averages. You'd have to drop to below 30 years before they had any serious competition. (That's when the U.S. abandoned salaries and started paying $500k p.a. for "academic stars" like Derrida.)

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"If you ain't a marine then you ain't *beep* (Don't blame me for abusive defence stickers!)

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Actually in most rankings Cambridge is the top University in the world...

And even in those rankings where it is not it is always ahead of Oxford.... and in the most recent rankings and for many subjects, Oxford ranks below UCL and Imperial.

So the best case is that Oxford is the second best University in the UK and could more likely be the 3rd or even 4th.

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In the ones I've seen it is usually Cambridge or Harvard that come top. Maybe the OP is referring to this. He's probably American, since they seem to become filled with righteous fury if anyone suggests they aren't the best at something.

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Cambridge is first in just about any ranking system that is not US-based (monumental surprise there, no?) because as usual the goal posts get changed for US ranking to include criteria that favours that side of the pond. Such as how many tens of billions of dollars have been made by Harvard graduates who never finished their course but managed to bodge a website together during the dot com bubble.



Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. -Isaac Asimov

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But what does 'top' and 'second best' actually mean? I would have thought that which college you go to is more dependent on the subject (= which colleges have the best and most relevant courses for you). My husband wanted to do Computer Science and got into Cambridge, but turned it down because he didn't think much of the degree syllabus. (They weren't happy, they wanted him! He went to a bog-standard state comp, but has 13 O Levels and 5 A Levels.) He went to a uni which is actually an ex-Poly, because he thought it had the best syllabus, the best lecturers, the best work placements, and ultimately the best reputation in the world of IT at that time.

Having said that, Computer Science is a degree which is allied closely with a particular career. People who are floating around with degrees in PPE or those useless 'creative' subjects, which are so plentiful now, have a harder job after graduation, because very few careers demand those subjects. (However, employers are pretty aware of the 'good' unis - I can't imagine having an Oxbridge degree and not getting an interview, unless it was below a 2:1 perhaps?)

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There are specific subjects that vary... I also wanted to do Compsci as part of my Maths degree and at that time Cambridge didn't even offer Compsci degrees and Oxford only as a third year option.

There are specific subjects where a particular lower profile Uni may be a world leader (eg Robotics at Southampton, Maths at Warwick, Psychology at Keele, English at East Anglia, etc).

It also depends on how you're ranking... teaching quality, reputation, research output, nobel prizes, student satisfaction, living costs, post-uni employment, etc...

In most rankings in most mainstream subjects Cambridge is in the top 5 Uni in the world ahead of Oxford with others like UCL and Imperial getting a look in. Cambridge is particularly renowned in the physical sciences and biochemistry. Oxford tends to be better known in humanities.

However there are definitely plenty of other great places to study and anyone I'm advising I tell them to make sure they choose a PLACE where they are going to be happy to live for 3-4 years, and not just to focus on the institution and course.

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There are specific subjects where a particular lower profile Uni may be a world leader (eg Robotics at Southampton, Maths at Warwick, Psychology at Keele, English at East Anglia, etc).

It also depends on how you're ranking... teaching quality, reputation, research output, nobel prizes, student satisfaction, living costs, post-uni employment, etc...

However there are definitely plenty of other great places to study and anyone I'm advising I tell them to make sure they choose a PLACE where they are going to be happy to live for 3-4 years, and not just to focus on the institution and course.

You are so right! There's so much to be taken into consideration, especially when you take into account you're going to be at the place for at least three years. This is where schools careers officers come in - they should be advising every student about all this, and help steer them towards their future. (But how many do? My careers officer was my history teacher, having an afternoon off!) A course and place might seem great - but what are you really going to do with your 2:2 in 'Media Studies'? 

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Exactly... most schools careers advisers are useless... and in many state schools they totally fail to give great advice.

For me there was little difference between courses and institutions... I had a long list of maybe 15-20 Unis and there was really little between them.

I chose Bristol as my first choice and got in and graduated from there mainly because I loved Bristol as a place. It was a great city that seemed to have so much going for it. And I loved my entire time there and still love going back there now.

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UCL?




im not your buddy guy, im not your GUY buddy, im not your buddy guy

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University College London.

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