So far, I have participated in seminars and lectures from academics with professional experience all across the Education sector, working with coursemates from different backgrounds, and making the most of the study spaces available. The SU has only enhanced my experience, and the takeaway from Domino's Pizza has been a lifesaver in-between seminars.
Relying on league tables to help decision-making is flawed, to begin with
This isn't me just sucking up to the university for the sake of an article in the SU newspaper - I've never put that much stock in university league tables for a variety of reasons, mainly for the reason that student feedback can't accurately depict how the course stacks up in the context of the Higher Education sector. Students who give feedback often have no other frame of reference, as they likely have only studied at their university. So, relying on league tables to help decision-making is flawed, to begin with. Also, every student is going to have different priorities based on their degree and personality. For example, the library might be the main priority for a student, while another might hold up student societies in higher regard.
Also, if we stopped obsessing over league tables, maybe universities would lower their marketing budget and use that money to better support students during this economic crisis.
Connor James Lamb
Newcastle University's Physical Sciences department has been ranked at 201-250; the highest rank being 1 and the lowest being 1001+. The raw score was 47.7-50.4, 85.4 for citations, 40.2 for industry outcomes, 67.8 for international outlook, 24.5 for research and 20.0 for teaching.
I think the raw score is fairly accurate. While Newcastle is a good school for chemistry that is likely to provide students with positive outcomes for getting a job, it's not the best in the world at the tier of Oxford or Princeton. However, it is not at the low tier of some schools that don't specialize in chemistry much at all or generally don't take education seriously.
The citation score is positive, though it would be great to see it improve. The industry outcome score seems a bit low because most alumni have been successful in some form of industry. The international outlook score is good, but again, improvement would be nice. The research score seems a bit low--after all, chemistry professors spend a lot of their time researching cures for cancer and inventing new technologies. I would need more insight to understand this one.
The low teaching score is, unfortunately, apt, as many students have been displeased with the teaching in chemistry. It's one of the main things people complain about to Course and School Reps
The low teaching score is, unfortunately, apt, as many students have been displeased with the teaching in chemistry. It's one of the main things people complain about to Course and School Reps. I think this is largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that professors, as avid researchers, have a lot of hats to wear outside the classroom. It is also difficult to teach the basics of a complicated subject like chemistry. Lots of students are going to struggle with material simply due to its nature. Despite the professors' extensive knowledge of chemistry, explaining said information to students who don't already know it or have a good basis in the foundational concepts will always be difficult, especially for those who find teaching difficult. Perhaps the score could be raised by giving better pay and support to professors to help them with the teaching aspect of the job, as teaching in and of itself is a quite daunting venture.
Elizabeth Meade