Go Figure: How good are UK {vs US} universities? (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Michael Blastland
GO FIGURE - Seeing stats in a different way

We're bad, they're good, gotta change.

Can't help looking over our shoulders, can we, at the way the rest of the world behaves and performs? Comparison is compulsive.

And so we should. It would be surprising if we had the edge every which way.

But to state the obvious, people are different in different countries because they're different, if you see what I mean. That is, international comparisons are seldom like with like. Some pesky social or cultural difference gets in the way - and one simple metric doesn't show it.

A great example recently - of how obvious, but vital, differences go unnoticed in big debates - was how UK and US universities compare.



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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13709877




Not a very "deep" article, but interesting -- some of the comments are interesting, as well.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I can't personally speak about US vs UK, but I can discuss the difference between elite vs. public.

I went to a private women's college. Small classes, sometimes only 3 others with me. You had to do the work and come to class prepared because you had to participate. (For one thing, you couldn't hide in a crowd and you couldn't osfuscate.) On the other hand, you developed a sense of confidence as you learned to defend your positions with evidence and rhetoric.

IMO the experience I had was not universally available to those attending public or larger colleges/universities, thus denying them an essential component of knowing how to use their knowledge, converting it into judgment and wisdom.

[n2doc]

2. One difference- they pay for UK profs is criminally low

They lose a lot of top talent because they pay 50% of what one would get in the US.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Surprised to hear that -- I've been looking at UK job listings, and the salaries ...

for postdocs are comparable to starting salaries for US asst. profs in many cases. Perhaps it's only at the upper ranks that US profs get more?

[n2doc]

4. In the environmental field it has been my experience

That they pay a lot less than for a starting prof here (tenure track). Something like 40-50K us dollars. Whereas it is typical to start at 60-70K, and it used to be that one got to around 90 K by promotion. But I suspect it varies by field.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. I'm in chemistry, and I haven't even seen an offer of $60k.

Of course, in the top tier of schools, it's much higher. But I keep seeing UK postdocs that run $40-50k.

[soleiri]

5. That's funny

Earlier in the week I was curious about how US universities compare with the rest of the world
so I used the google and found the same QS World University Rankings the article used.
Both the US and UK ranked near the middle in the recent PISA scores (although I don't think they threw quite the fit we did)
and yet, we (US and UK) dominate (I'm so American) the top 20.
The highest ranking for a top scorer for the PISA report is Canada's McGill University at #19
and the university of Hong Kong is at #23.

Yeah, I know I'm being petty, but I'm sick to death about people (reformers) in the US attacking educators and education.