Page 19 - ELG2001 Jan Issue 468

El•Gazette 468.qxp_El•Gazette 468 08/01/2020 15:58 Page 19

MASTERS LISTINGS

An example of GOING GLOBAL
What the QS subject rankings
20 reveal about EFL-related masters
rank stupidity?

TOP UNIVERSITIES
Masters in the best
21 departments in the world
There are metrics which help you

choose a Masters, but use them
with care says Melanie Butler HARD DATA
What to look for when you
22 choose a UK or Ireland Masters

ecently I received a copy of a document doing the rounds of
UK Universities. It was headed ‘Top 50 Applied
ON THE LIST
Linguistics/Tesol/Language Education Postgraduate Our comprehensive list
RProgrammes in UK Universities 2019-20’. Nobody seemed 23-28of UK & Ireland Masters
to know where it came from, so, since we do the UK rankings of
language centres (based on the British Council inspection reports),
somebody thought it might be ours.
If it were, I would have expected a raft of legal letters: Oxford was CENTRE FORWARD
ranked at 12, Cambridge was ranked at 20 and down at number 35 Inside the UK’s University
was SOAS, University of London which no longer, according to its 29 Language Centres
website, seems to have any EFL-related taught postgraduate
programmes at all. It may have been based on a mass survey of
Masters students at the named universities, though you’d think
BEST OF BRITISH?
those universities might have noticed. Nottingham comes top when we
The EL Gazette has been listing UK Masters since at least 1987. 30 look at all the criteria
And more than once in the last 30 years we have used publicly
available data from third sources to compare types of universities on
one or more metrics.
We do so in this supplement: we are ranking the UK university UK international education
language centres based on their British Council reports (see page
29). The main takeaway: seventy per cent of them are excellent, writes letter to Boris Johnson
according the EL Gazette rankings, and 83 per cent are strong at
teaching, based on the British Council inspectors report. However, Shortly after the election of the
when it comes to choosing a Masters, this information is only really new Conservative government in GOV.UK
helpful to people looking for courses that are run in language the UK a group of seven British
centres (often an excellent choice), or those who need to improve organisations involved in
their English level to get into a Masters in the first place. And, of international education signed an
course, it only applies to the UK. open letter to the press outlining
There is more publicly accessible information on universities in their position. Below is an extract
the UK than for universities anywhere else in the world. The reason outlining the key policy areas.
is simple: according to the OECD, the British publish more “We want the Government to
educational data on a national basis than any other country in the build on its International
world. The only problem is finding it. Education Strategy, investing
For example, we have the Teaching Excellence Framework, which more to promote the diversity
measures the quality of teaching across every university, but only in and breadth of UK education
England and Wales, and only for undergraduate degrees. For our and grow our market share. We Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Masters listings starting on page 23, these are starred. want to hear more warm words
To find a useful international ranking, you have to turn to the QS of welcome for all students and •Emma Meredith,
Top Universities Ranking by subject, which is based largely on the student travellers. We want an International Director,
academic reputation of individual departments within a university. immigration and visa system Association of Colleges
The QS ranking is really helpful, at least when it comes to EFL- which makes it as easy as •British Educational Travel
related Masters in departments of Linguistics, Education and (at possible to enjoy an educational Association
least in the UK) English language. When it comes to Masters tucked experience here, ideally allowing •Sarah Cooper, Chief
away in other departments, or in language centres, it doesn’t tell you our European friends to Executive, English UK
anything at all. It does allow us, though, to compare departments continue with ID card travel and •Alexander Proudfoot, Chief
across the world, and put together global rankings of the academic to encourage growth from new Executive, Independent
reputation of English-medium departments in both Linguistics and markets around the world. We Higher Education
Education which offer relevant taught postgraduate courses. want the UK to benefit from •Julie Robinson, Chief
Hot takes? Well, turn to pages 20 and 21 to find out. But while students’ skills by allowing them Executive, The Independent
UK Masters predominate, not least because most top US to work while they’re here and Schools Council
universities don’t offer them, they face stiff competition: from when they graduate. And we •Anne Marie Graham, Chief
Australia, the Netherlands and, in the far east, Hong Kong and want the Government to Executive, UKCISA
Singapore. commit to continue with the •Vivienne Stern, Chief
If we had more data on them, we would have put them on our EU’s Erasmus+ scheme which Executive, Universities UK
Masters listings. supports international learning.” International
editorial@elgazette.com 19