Page 29 - ELG2001 Jan Issue 468

El•Gazette 468.qxp_El•Gazette 468 08/01/2020 15:58 Page 29

MASTERS LISTINGS
Top at teaching

Melanie Butler looks at UK UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
University Language Centres

hy choose to study English at the Language Centre of a
British University? Simply because, on average, they are
excellent, at least if we base our judgement on the
WBritish Council inspection reports of the 38 universities
they accredit.
Seventy per cent of them are awarded eight areas of strength or
more by the inspectors, making them EL Gazette Centres of
Excellence. These are all listed in ranked order on this page. In fact,
eight is also the mean average score, and the most common score.
Outside of the universities, the mean average language centre score
is five, and the most common score is two.
The real strength of the university sector lies in its teaching. An
astonishing 83 per cent of universities are awarded a strength in this
area compared to just a third of other language centres. The secret is
simple: if you offer two to three times the private sector hourly rate,
you will attract the best teachers.

The secret is simple: if you offer
two to three times the private sector
hourly rate, you will attract the best University of Manchester
teachers. Learning Resources? Just over 90 per cent of universities have a
strength in that area; in Course Design it’s just under 90 per cent.
That average drops to fifty per cent when it comes to strength in
How to calculate rankings academic staff profile – but that is still more than double the 20 per
cent achieved by non-university centres.
And in case you thought it was only education in which
universities excel, 70 per cent also have a strength in leisure
opportunities.
Go to https://www.britishcouncil.org/
education/accreditation/centres and find the It is not that all university language centres are brilliant. Currently,
1report for the university language centre you are two centres have their accreditation under review, in part because of
looking for. Remember, reports are arranged by the first weaknesses in their care of under 18s. Nor is it the best performing
letter of the name, so Brunel University comes under sector in UK ELT: boarding schools have a slightly higher average
the letter B, but the University of Birmingham appears score.
under U. Even in the adult market, universities don’t have it all their own
way. No university has yet made it into the elite group of just seven

organisations which have achieved a perfect score on inspection. This
On the first page of each report you will find the group includes six long-established, academically-orientated private
publishable statement. This lists all the areas of language schools for adults.
2strength and also any needs for improvement. But if you had to choose an adult language course at random, your
safest bet would be to opt for the one in a university.
To calculate the score, add up all the areas of
strength and subtract the total number of needs University Centre Ranking
3for improvement to get the raw score. 1) Manchester*

2) Liverpool
Check the summary statement again to see if the
university admits students aged under 18. If so, it 3) Edge Hill, Brighton*
4is inspected under 15 areas, so divide the raw 4) King’s College London
score by 15. If it only enrols at 18+, it is only inspected 5) Leicester*
under 14 areas, so divide the raw score by 14. 6) Aberystwyth, Brunel, Leeds Beckett

7) Manchester Metropolitan, Nottingham Trent, Chichester*
If the accreditation of the centre is under review 8) Sheffield Hallam, Teesside, University of the Arts London
you will see the statement: “The summary
5statement has been withdrawn and should not be 9) Northumbria, Greenwich*
used.” The Gazette does not use the data in the rest of 10) Swansea, Bradford, Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield
the report to calculate its rankings, but there is nothing Based on areas of strength awarded by the British Council Inspectors.
to stop you reading it. *Centre does not enrol under 18s and is inspected in 14 rather than 15 areas.

editorial@elgazette.com 29