The annual QS World Rankings can be said to attract much attention, and people who do not study abroad will come to join in the fun.
UK institutions have consistently performed well in the rankings, with the number of QS top 100 institutions basically remaining at 15-20, so they are also widely loved by Chinese students.
But in fact, some British colleges and universities have also had a "highlight" moment in the rankings, and today Mia will give you a review of the British colleges and universities that have "fallen off the altar" in recent years, and the former glory has gradually been forgotten!
01 University of Bristol
Speaking of the past, Buda definitely has the right to speak!
In the 2024 QS rankings, the University of Buenos Aires ranks in the top 55 in the world. But who remembers that the best result at the University of Buenos Aires was ranked 29th in the world (2015)!
The decline in the rankings of the University of Buenos Aires is arguably the most regrettable among the QS100 universities in the UK in recent years. Freshmen may not know that the University of Buenos Aires used to be ranked ahead of the University of Manchester and LSE.
2015 QS Rankings (Source: QS official website)
The British media once singled out the university in a report, saying that its decline in the ranking was mainly due to the rapid expansion of the university, but the replenishment of faculty did not keep up.
In 2019, the University of Buenos Aires ranked TOP 51, falling out of the QS world top 50 for the first time, and in 2020, it ranked TOP 49.
After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, it fell to 58th place in 2021, and then began to fall all the way, getting farther and farther away from the QS50...
However, this year, Buenos Aires has returned from 61st in the world to 55th, and the performance in 2025 is still very exciting!
02 King's College London
In the 2024 QS rankings, KCL ranks in the top 40 in the world. However, KCL's ranking used to be on par with Aida, and the best result was QS20 for three consecutive years from 2014 to 2016!
2015 QS Rankings (Source: QS official website)
In 2019, KCL fell out of the top 30 in the world for the first time, ranking in the top 31, and then fell all the way to the current 40th.
03 London School of Economics and Political Science
If there was one word to describe LSE's ranking changes, it would be "twists and turns".
In the years when KCL and the University of Buenos Aires were ranked in the QS30, the LSE ranked after the 60th. In 2016, the LSE ranking suddenly soared, rising to the world's top 35, and in the following years, it continued to rank in the world's top 40.
2016 QS Rankings (Source: QS official website)
Until 2020, LSE began to fall out of the QS40, and then fell all the way down the ranking. In the 2023 QS rankings, it finally fell out of the top 50 in the world and ranked in the top 56 in the world...
However, in 2024, LSE will return to QS50 and rank in the world's TOP 45 with its excellent employer reputation and graduate employment scores!
04 University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is ranked in the top 76 in the world in the QS rankings 2024.
Dang University was once ranked in the world's top 51 (2014) and in 2015 in the world's top 55, even ahead of LSE and Warwick.
2014 QS Rankings (Source: QS official website)
In 2016, the ranking of Guerra fell slightly to 60+, and then remained between 60 and 70 for five consecutive years, without much change, after the epidemic, the ranking of Geda slipped to outside the 80...
Fortunately, it has risen by 5 places this year, so keep up the good work!
05 University of Birmingham
Once the University of Birmingham also had a chance to break into the QS50. In 2014 and 2015, the university ranked TOP 62 and TOP 64 in the world respectively.
2014 QS Rankings (Source: QS official website)
However, since 2016, the University has gradually missed the QS50. The university's ranking began to fall to 70+ in 2016, 80+ in 2017, and then to 90+ after the epidemic.
In the latest ranking in 2024, the university has performed well, rising 7 places from the previous year, ranking in the world's top 84, and stabilizing the title of the world's top 100 universities.
06 University of Sheffield
In the 2024 QS rankings, Sheffield fell 8 places to rank in the world's top 104, and withdrew from the "World Top 100" group chat. As soon as the rankings came out, Sheffield students also silently withdrew from the network......
From 2014 to 2020, Xie Da's ranking has been up and down from 69 to 84, and in 2015, it ranked in the world's top 69, which is the best in the past decade, although it is always in the top 100 in the world.
2015 QS Rankings (Source: QS official website)
However, in the past three years, Xie Da's ranking has fallen out of the top 90, and has been falling all the way until it fell directly out of the world's top 100 this year.
Hopefully Sheffield will have a good result in 2025!
07 University of Nottingham
Nuoda's performance in the 2024 QS ranking is very impressive, soaring 14 places to rank in the world's top 100, and it also squeezes Xie Da out of the world's top 100. Prior to this, Nuoda had fallen out of the world's top 100 for two consecutive years.
Although the ranking has risen significantly this year, there have been times when the University has achieved better results.
From 2014 to 2017, the University of Nottingham remained between 70th and 80th in the world, and in 2016 it was ranked in the top 70 in the world, the best in the past decade.
2016 QS Rankings (Source: QS official website)
Subsequently, Nuoda fell to 80+ in 2018, 90+ in 2020, TOP99 in the world in 2021, and then directly fell out of the top 100 in 2022.
Although I am back in the world's top 100 now, I hope I can stay longer this time!
Why is the ranking falling?
Universities are in financial trouble
First, the pandemic has indeed caused some UK universities to fall into financial difficulties, but it is only part of the reason for the drop in university rankings.
Back before the pandemic hit in 2020, QS ranking compilers found that 66 of the UK's 84 universities saw a decline in student-faculty ratios, 59 with a decline in research citations, and 51 with a decline in international student numbers.
Ben Sauter, head of research at QS, said Brexit, economic uncertainty and rapid campus expansion had exacerbated the drop in UK university rankings.
While it is difficult to determine the exact impact of Brexit, the UK's performance has been on a downward trend since the 2016 Brexit referendum, Sauter said.
(Source: Sky news)
He added that since the UK government lifted the cap in 2013, the UK's top universities may have expanded too fast, and that the increase in student numbers needs to be accompanied by a sufficient increase in teaching capacity, otherwise the quality of teaching will suffer.
For example, a new campus has opened, but the faculty has not kept up.
Standard changes cause rankings to fluctuate
In addition, the criteria are different, and the corresponding rankings will definitely change significantly.
QS has made the biggest improvements to the ranking methodology ever, introducing three new metrics and recalibrating the weights of some existing metrics.
Although the above colleges and universities have "fallen off the altar" in recent years, they are still ranked in QS100 no matter what! Students who want to apply to study in the UK are assured to consider!
Finally, what the senior sister wants to say is that although ranking is one of the criteria for choosing a school, you still have to consider your personal interests, budget, professional requirements and other conditions before choosing carefully! I hope everyone can get a satisfactory offer~
If you encounter problems in this area and want to find institutional help, welcome to add Chengdu Shenyou Mia Senior Sister (VX: Symia123) for consultation~