League ranking will reflect university fee levels

Given the backdrop of the debate on fee-charging for English students at Scotland’s universities, the latest world league table rankings assume an extra significance. Morale at Glasgow and Edinburgh universities will be lifted by results of the Quacquarelli Symonds survey showing that they improved their standing in the top 100 institutions in the world. Glasgow jumped from 77th to 59th place while Edinburgh managed a more sedate two-spot improvement to 20th. Dundee also rose. But Heriot-Watt saw the biggest drop, from 356 last year to the 401-450 range and St Andrews slipped narrowly to 97th.

It is natural for Scotland’s older universities to wish to increase their fees to English students to the maximum permissible. However, it will be interesting to see the extent to which the rankings – and the movements up or down – impact on the range of fees charged. St Andrews is unlikely to suffer from the small slip in its ranking. It is highly popular with English applicants who take a broader view of the many attractions a university experience can offer.

It would also be invidious if fee-charge alone were to become the yardstick for measuring the qualities of a university. But at some stage, price must come to reflect some reconciliation of market supply and demand.