Aston University in Birmingham is one of the top 50 in the UK. Birmingham is called the city of thousand trades- being the first manufacturing town in the world. The university has leveraged its geographical location and has been showing amazing results in job prospects and employability.
Aston University World Rankings
QS Top Universities has ranked the university on a global scale considering certain aspects. The university has got a rank of 511-520 for the year 2021. A comparison of its rank over the years is shown below.
| Year | QS World University Rankings |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 358 |
| 2018 | 373 |
| 2019 | 381 |
| 2020 | 442 |
| 2021 | 511-520 |
The scores awarded for the various criteria by QS are given below.
| Ranking Criteria | Scores awarded |
|---|---|
| Employer Reputation | 37.5 |
| Citations per Faculty | 27.5 |
| International Faculty | 95.8 |
| International Students | 35.6 |
The international faculty category gets a score of about 95.8, which is hugely responsible for the value-added scores attained by the university. Value added scores try to figure out the value added to a student during his term in college. It is a comparison of his degree results to that of his entry qualifications.
- Aston University climbs eight places in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020
Aston University has risen eight places to become ranked as the 48th best university in the UK out of a possible 131institutions by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020.
The guide ranks universities on nine indicators – teaching quality, student satisfaction, research quality, graduate prospects, entrance qualifications held by new students, degree results achieved, student/staff ratios, service and facilities spend, and degree completion rates.
The ranking was prompted by number of improvements in areas such as the Staff Student Ratio and the excellent academic attainment of Astons’ student’s for the number of students gaining 1st’ class honours or 2:1 degrees.
Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Helen Higson, Aston University said: “We are delighted Aston has made it back up into the top 50, this improvement reflects the dedication and hard work of everyone within the Aston family.
“The Staff Student Ratio is an area where the University has made significant investment over the last two years, which has seen our ranking on this factor climb by 30 places.
“The transformational nature of the Aston experience has also had a substantial impact, with a ranking of 28th for our completion rates and a ranking of 20th for our high proportion of students achieving 1st and 2:1 degree classifications.
“We are also proud to be ranked 28th in the UK in the Social Inclusion section of this league table.”
A number of subject areas across the University are in the Top 30 in the UK in the Times/ Sunday Times Good University Guide. For example, at the Aston Business School, Economics ranked 22nd out of 78 this is an increase of two places since last year. Aston was ranked 15th for subjects allied to medicine out of 80.
Areas recognized for improvement, with action plans already in place, include some parts of the student experience and aspects of teaching quality – reflecting the areas highlighted in the 2019 National Student Survey. Considerable work on student communications and on responding to our students’ feedback is also underway.
Times Higher Education
Aston University has also been ranked by the Times Higher Education and has been scored on various criteria. The global rankings and the criteria provided by THE is given below.
| Year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| Rank | 351-400 | 401-500 | 351-400 | 351-400 | 351-400 | 501-600 | 401-500 |
QS Graduate Employability Ranking
Aston University has also been in the QS graduate employability ranking. It’s ranking over the few years is tabulated below.
| Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| Rank | 101-150 | 181-190 | 191-200 | 201-250 |
The various criteria used under the employability category and its rankings have been tabulated below.
| Criteria | Score | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Employer Reputation | 39.6 | 179 |
| Partnership with employer | 53.2 | 167 |
| Employer student connect | 56.7 | 156 |
Aston University National Ranking
The Guardian
The Guardian has a category of measure called ‘ career after 6 months’. This category analyses the percentage of students who can find graduate-level jobs.
The geographical location of Aston makes it leverage its advantages in terms of employability and various other graduate prospects. Birmingham is a commercial and financial center. This has made Aston hold good relationships with local, national, and international employers. It has been an institute leading in graduate employment for over 25 years now.
QS Top Universities
QS has ranked the city in terms of certain aspects. This data will be helpful for students to choose to study in Birmingham.
| QS Best Student Cities Ranking | 49th |
| Desirability Rank | 53rd |
| Employer Activity Rank | 72nd |
| Affordability Rank | 100th |
| Student View Rank | 42nd |
Talking about employability, the Longitudinal Education outcomes(LEO) survey has revealed information about the median salary of graduates from Aston five years after graduation.
Their survey takes into account first-degree-graduates working and paying income tax in the United Kingdom.
| Graduates From Various Courses | Median Earnings In 5 Years |
|---|---|
| General – Employed Graduates | 33,200 |
| Aston Business School | 38,700 |
| Aston University’s Allied Health Courses | 42,000 |
| Aston University’s Language and Area Studies | 31,000 |
| Aston University’s Building, Architecture, and Planning | 38,100 |
Graduates from the Aston’s Allied Health Courses are ranked the 2nd in the country in terms of median earnings after 5 years. In general, the graduates from the University are ranked 15th in the country for the same.
These attributes have made the University’s national ranking (The Guardian) go up from 43 in 2019 to 36 in 2020.
Aston University has got 30th (overall) rank for 2021. Aston has also been featured in the under 50 categories (48th rank) by Sunday Times Good University Guide for 2021.
Subject-wise ranking for Aston University
Aston University’s under 50 rankings in various aspects are given below.
| Source | Category | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Complete University Guide | Good Honours Degree | 31 |
| Complete University Guide | Degree completion | 36 |
| THE | Young University Ranking 2016 | 77 |
| THE | European Teaching Ranking 2019 | 76-100 |
| Guardian | Career prospects | 31 |
| Guardian | Continuation | 11 |
| Sunday Times Good University Guide | Graduate Prospects | 30 |
| THE | International outlook | 75th world/ 24th UK |
Complete University Guide
All of the sources referred here have given immense importance to student satisfaction- in terms of experience, courses, etc. Below is a table spilling some information about the same.
| Course | Student Satisfaction Rank | Course | Student Experience Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| General engineering | 6 | Subjects allied to Medicine | 5 |
| Building and Town and country planning | 8 | French | 9 |
| Chemical engineering | 12 | Social policy | 12 |
| Electrical engineering | 14 | Building studies | 12 |
| Health professions | 15 | General engineering | 12 |
| Pharmacy and Pharmacology | 17 | Chemical engineering | 14 |
| English | 17 | chemistry | 16 |
| Social Policy and Administration | 18 | Iberian studies | 21 |
| Business, Management, and Marketing | 23 | Biological sciences | 27 |
| Chemistry | 27 | Law | 29 |
| Law | 28 | Aeronautical and Manufacturing engineering | 30 |
National Student Survey
The National Student Survey (NSS) conducted in 2020 revealed that 83.7% of students were satisfied with the University, its courses, and its facilities. The highest course performance data is given below for your reference.
| Degree | Performance Percentage (NSS) |
|---|---|
| LLB Law with Management | 95.5 |
| BSc Biological sciences | 94.7 |
| BSc English Language | 94.1 |
| BSc Business Computing | 93.3 |
| BSc Human Resource Management | 93.3 |
| BSc Chemistry | 92.9 |
| BSc Biomedical Sciences | 92 |
| BSc Psychology and Sociology | 91.7 |
Aston University has produced amazing results in global subject-wise rankings as well. The details are tabulated below.
| Source | Subject | Global Position | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| QS | Business and Management studies | Top 100 | 2020 |
| QS | Accounting and Finance | Top 200 | 2020 |
| THE | Business and Economics | Top 125 | 2020 |
| THE | Psychology | Top 175 | 2020 |
| THE | Social Sciences | Top 300 | 2020 |
| Eduniversal Masters | Business intelligence and Strategy | 13th rank | 2019 |
| Eduniversal Masters | Entrepreneurship | 33rd rank | 2019 |
| Eduniversal Masters | Financial markets | 37th rank | 2019 |
| Eduniversal Masters | Supply chain and logistics | 44th rank | 2019 |
Aston University has also got the Golden Award from Teaching Excellence Framework(TEF). It is a government measure that assesses the quality of teaching and student satisfaction. The University was awarded for producing students for their consistently outstanding performance. QS gave the University a 5-star rating in 2018 based on teaching, inclusiveness, innovation, employability, and internationalism.
Aston University provides students with a multicultural community to grow and feel inclusive. The university is one of the two in Birmingham to be internationally ranked. The University provides top-notch teaching facilities and has an amazing network that helps to employ its students globally.
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