Russell Group

Russell Group
Russell Group
Formation	1994
Type	Association of UK universities
Location	United Kingdom
Membership	20
Key people	Dr Wendy Piatt (Director General); Professor Michael Arthur (Chairman)
Website	www.russellgroup.ac.uk

The Russell Group is an association of 20 British public research universities. It members receive approximately two-thirds of all university research grant and contract income in the United Kingdom.^[1] It was established in 1994 to represent its members interests to the government, parliament and other similar bodies. The Russell Group contains many of the United Kingdom's leading universities; 18 of its 20 members are in the top 20 in terms of research funding.^[2]^{[dead link]} Nineteen smaller research universities formed the 1994 Group in response.

As of May 2004, Russell Group universities accounted for 65% (over £1.8 billion) of UK universities' research grant and contract income, 56% of all doctorates awarded in the United Kingdom, and over 30% of all students studying in the United Kingdom from outside the EU.^[1] In the 2001 national Research Assessment Exercise, 78% of the staff in Grade 5* departments and 57% of the staff in Grade 5 departments were located in Russell Group universities,^[1] and in 2004/5 Russell Group universities were allocated approximately 64% of the total quality-related research funding (QR) allocated by the Funding Councils.^[1]

Obtaining a place at a Russell Group university is often a competitive process.^{[citation needed]} The 20 universities take in approximately 75,000 new first-year students each year. In the academic year 2008-09, about 8 people applied per available place in Russell Group institutions.^{[citation needed]} (though UCAS, each student makes multiple applications, to five universities.)

[edit] Name

The Russell Group is so named because the first informal meetings of the Group took place at the Russell Hotel in Russell Square, London, generally shortly before meetings of Universities UK (formerly known as Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals, or CVCP) in Tavistock Square.

[edit] Organisation

[edit] Members

×4

Locations of Russell Group universities

Sixteen members are from England, two from Scotland, one from Wales and one from Northern Ireland. The current membership of the Group is:^[1]

In March 2012 it was announced that Durham University, the University of Exeter, Queen Mary, University of London and the University of York had been invited to join the Russell Group, with all accepting. Each of the four is planned to join the Group with effect from August 2012.^[3]^[4]

[edit] Objectives

The Russell Group states^[1] that its objectives are to:

lead the UK's research effort;
maximise income for its member institutions;
attract the best staff and students to those institutions;
create the regulatory environment in which it can achieve these objectives by reducing government interference; and
identify ways to co-operate in order to exploit the universities' collaborative advantage.

It works towards these objectives by lobbying the UK government and parliament by commissioning reports and research, creating a forum in which the universities can discuss issues of common concern and identify ways to work together.

[edit] Leadership

The group is chaired by Professor Michael Arthur, Vice Chancellor of University of Leeds. Dr Wendy Piatt was appointed in January 2007 as Director General. Formerly, she worked as Deputy Director in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and as former head of education at the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR).^[5]

[edit] Research funding

In terms of total research funding allocations from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 2007/8, the top 15 universities were all Russell Group institutions.^[6] LSE was 21st, due to its focus on less lucrative social science research. Queen's University Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh, were not included in this table, as they are not English institutions. The Russell Group institutions received 82% of the total HEFCE research funding allocation.^[6]

The research funding figures depend on factors other than the quality of research, in particular there are variations due to institutional size and subject spread (e.g. science, technology and medicine tend to attract more money).

In 2008, 18 of the 20 members were positioned in the top 20 of Research Fortnight's Research Assessment Exercise 'Power' Table (the other two places being occupied by non-Russell Group members, Durham University and Queen Mary, University of London).^[2]

In 2009/10, 19 of the 20 UK universities with the highest income from research grants and contracts were members of the Russell Group.^[7]

Total research income 2009/10^[7]
	University^a	Research income (£,000)
1	University of Oxford	367,000
2	Imperial College London	296,800
3	University College London	275,061
4	University of Cambridge	267,700
5	University of Manchester	194,603
6	University of Edinburgh	185,279
7	King's College London	144,053
8	University of Glasgow	129,163
9	University of Leeds	119,319
10	University of Liverpool	110,800
11	University of Birmingham	104,811
12	University of Nottingham	104,100
13	University of Bristol	101,400
14	University of Sheffield	98,748
15	University of Southampton	96,323
16	Cardiff University	87,962
17	Newcastle University	85,200
18	University of Warwick	79,802
19	Queen Mary, University of London	68,472
20	Queen's University Belfast	66,585
40	London School of Economics	23,856

Notes:

^a Name in bold text denotes membership of the Russell Group

[edit] Rankings

University	The Complete University Guide^a^[8]	The Times^a^[9]	QS World University Rankings^b^[10]	Times Higher Education World University Rankings^c^[11]
University of Birmingham	22	26	67	148
University of Bristol	11	13	30	66
University of Cambridge	1	2	1	6
Cardiff University	37	35	135	Not ranked
University of Edinburgh	13	15	20	36
University of Glasgow	21	22	59	102
Imperial College London	3	4	6	8
King's College London	16	24	27	56
University of Leeds	32	30	93	133
University of Liverpool	30	31	123	181
London School of Economics	4	3	64	47
University of Manchester	29	31	29	48
Newcastle University	24	25	127	146
University of Nottingham	17	16	74	140
University of Oxford	2	1	5	4
Queen's University Belfast	31	38	193	Not ranked
University of Sheffield	26	17	72	101
University of Southampton	14	19	75	127
University College London	7	5	7	17
University of Warwick	8	8	50	157

Notes:

^a National ranking; latest available year (2012-2013)
^b Global ranking; latest available year (2011-2012)
^c Global ranking; latest available year (2011-2012)

[edit] Aldwych Group

In response to the Russell Group's support for tuition fees (and other issues), in 1994 the students' unions of the member universities formed the Aldwych Group as a parallel organisation to represent what they perceive to be the common interests of their students.^[12]

[edit] Criticisms

[edit] Protectionism

The Institute of Economic Affairs has argued that the Russell Group acts out of protectionist interests. It is claimed that this will "restrict competition, discourage innovation and encourage inefficiency, thereby depriving students of lower prices and/or greater choice". ^[13]

[edit] Tuition fees

The Russell Group has been prominent in recent years in the debate over the introduction of tuition fees, a measure which it has strongly supported - much to the dismay of the universities' students' unions. Indeed, members of the Group argued that even the fees proposed by the controversial Higher Education Bill would not be sufficient to cover the rising cost of undergraduate teaching, and successfully argued for the right to charge variable fees at much higher rates, so-called top-up fees.^{[citation needed]}