Oxford loses top 3 university ranking in the UK • Hacker News Board

Re: Oxford loses top 3 university ranking in the UK

#111

Post by Ekaros » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 4:59 PM UTC

patanegra wrote: post #75

yodsanklai wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But does Oxford want the best student or some that had to work harder but ultimately aren't as good? In France, our elite scientific schools recruit students based on anonymous nationwide tests. It turns out most of the recruits come from privileged backgrounds, and I've heard this is more the case today than it was several decades ago. I'd love to see more diversity in these schools, but I prefer to maintain our edu…

Clearly, it's because talented people grow to the top (not just economically, they might be cultural elites, like people working in news, academia). Then, they marry people who are on the top. And they pass their genes and habits. It's nothing bad that their kids end up good students again. I think that French system is superior. It gives fair chances to everyone.

Honestly I feel like anonymous mass test in general is least worst way. Yes, parents can invest in tutoring and such. But there still needs to be effort and learning to do well on the test.

Re: Oxford loses top 3 university ranking in the UK

#112

Post by DC-3 » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 5:00 PM UTC

ksec wrote: post #34

I wasn't even aware Oxford has ever loses top 2. May be I am way too stuck in the past. Also surprised Imperial and UCL are lower than what I expected. I remember the joke in "Yes Minister" about LSE. How times have changed. I also wonder the world is now more American focused, how do they rank against Harvard, MIT or other US Universities. 1. LSE 2. University of St Andrews 3. Durham University 4. Oxford and Cambrid…

Given that this is Hacker News, I think it is worth pointing out that Durham's strong suit traditionally is the humanities. In my opinion a CS degree from Oxford, Cambridge, or ICL is considerably more impressive than one from Durham.

Re: Oxford loses top 3 university ranking in the UK

#113

Post by fatfox » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 5:01 PM UTC

afavour wrote: post #72

joefarish wrote: post #25

I'm not saying it's wrong but people are reacting to this as if the Times university guide is some objective truth. Regarding the potential lowering of standards for widening participation purposes, this doesn't change the fact that the entry standards for Oxford and Cambridge are still higher than LSE and St. Andrews.

I don't know anyone at Oxford but do have friends who work in higher education. From what I hear from them Brexit has turned UK higher education upside down when it comes to funding and research. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this is a consequence of some universities navigating that better than others. But you don't get anywhere near as much online outrage with that theory so "leftists are ruining western civili…

Yes I’d agree with that. International student income dropped, rounds of layoffs.

Some universities are better at optimising for rankings, see also REF research funding and how much effort and resources are spent on it, which varies by university: https://2029.ref.ac.uk/about/what-is-the-ref/

Re: Oxford loses top 3 university ranking in the UK

#114

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 5:01 PM UTC

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #94

dan-robertson wrote: post #84

When I was a student, no one would seriously say they had a ‘doxbridge education’ for the same reason that saying you went to an ‘Ivy League school’ meant you went to a shit one like Brown (idk about the US rankings tbh; basing that on a Lisa Simpson nightmare). That’s still obviously true today. I expect new hires at my employer and our competitors to continue mostly coming largely from Oxford and Cambridge (plus to…

Brown is a shit school? That's a level of elitism I don't often encounter.

[deleted]

Re: Oxford loses top 3 university ranking in the UK

#115

Post by fifticon » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 5:01 PM UTC

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #94

dan-robertson wrote: post #84

When I was a student, no one would seriously say they had a ‘doxbridge education’ for the same reason that saying you went to an ‘Ivy League school’ meant you went to a shit one like Brown (idk about the US rankings tbh; basing that on a Lisa Simpson nightmare). That’s still obviously true today. I expect new hires at my employer and our competitors to continue mostly coming largely from Oxford and Cambridge (plus to…

Brown is a shit school? That's a level of elitism I don't often encounter.

yup, that's where the brown color comes from

Re: Oxford loses top 3 university ranking in the UK

#116

Post by lofatdairy » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 5:02 PM UTC

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #94

dan-robertson wrote: post #84

When I was a student, no one would seriously say they had a ‘doxbridge education’ for the same reason that saying you went to an ‘Ivy League school’ meant you went to a shit one like Brown (idk about the US rankings tbh; basing that on a Lisa Simpson nightmare). That’s still obviously true today. I expect new hires at my employer and our competitors to continue mostly coming largely from Oxford and Cambridge (plus to…

Brown is a shit school? That's a level of elitism I don't often encounter.

There's a weird intersection in ultra-elitism where true blue-blooded snobbery is indistinguishable from middle-class envy.

Re: Oxford loses top 3 university ranking in the UK

#117

Post by Halan » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 5:02 PM UTC

It doesn’t matter. UK education is flawed already by the time a student reach tertiary. A levels leave such a gap in people that I would go as far as adding it to the reasons for the country issues. People in the UK, even if they study at Oxford, are likely more ignorant than many Europeans having done classical studies in high school.

Re: Oxford loses top 3 university ranking in the UK

#118

Post by Halan » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 5:02 PM UTC

It doesn’t matter.

UK education is flawed already by the time a student reach tertiary.

A levels, by focusing pnly on few subjects, leave such a gap in people that I would go as far as adding it to the reasons for the country issues.

People in the UK, even if they study at Oxford, are likely more ignorant than many Europeans having done classical studies in high school.

Re: Oxford loses top 3 university ranking in the UK

#119

Post by dan-robertson » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 5:03 PM UTC

TMWNN wrote: post #12

patanegra wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is extremely unfair framing. Oxford University has been discriminating people from independent schools for a while now. To get in, you need 4 A* from an independent schools, or just 3 As from state schools. That's not "letting in poor people" as you framed it. It's letting in dumber people, worse students. Lots of that is mainly based on classism (against people from middle class), racism (against white people).…

>To get in, you need 4 A* from an independent schools, or just 3 As from state schools. Or ABB for the incoming president of the Oxford Union, the one who cheered Charlie Kirk's murder a few months after debating him in person. https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/education/2025/09/oxfo... >

Sometimes colleges make deliberately easy offers for students they like, or they later accept students who did not meet the criteria that were set (if you set offers such that fewer students pass than you have places for, it is much easier to control class sizes – look at the chaos with Covid grade inflation). So I think it’s wrong to assume that the offer made to someone being high is a particularly strong signal for how clever they are.

Clearly this PPE student has some talent for politics to be elected president of one of the more prestigious societies, so it seems right for him to have been given a place.

Re: Oxford loses top 3 university ranking in the UK

#120

Post by madaxe_again » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 5:03 PM UTC

homeless_engi wrote: post #31

I think the real story here might be the line below: "Durham University improved by 30 places year-on-year" Seems a bit suspicious, no? What methodology change led to this result? How can a university that was previously not as well-regarded become the #3 in the country overnight?

Durham is the oxbridge reject university, and it’s a standard opener during freshers week to ask which college rejected them. Me, Corpus Christi Oxford reject, Durham alumnus.

What has seemingly happened here is that oxbridge have ramped up their intake of overseas students, who pay a vast sum compared to a U.K. student, thus pushing more U.K. talent to Durham, as you’ll always preferentially give the place to the kid paying six figures rather than the one on a state bursary.