In a Lloyds Banking Group survey of the quality of life of students at universities throughout the UK, Oxford came in fifth place, behind Loughborough, Cambridge and Newcastle.
The study was based on factors including student satisfaction, living costs, sports facilities and salaries after graduation.
Although 88.2% of Oxford students are happy with their course, satisfaction amongst Durham students was even higher, at 90%, according to the Internationaal Student Barometer. Furthermore, while 90% of Oxford students were satisfied with their overall living experience, only 71% were happy with accommodation costs, college sport facilities and the cost of living.
Durham, on the other hand, excelled in these areas, listed as having the second best sporting facilities in Britain, with students benefitting from the lower cost of living in the northeast in addition.
Despite a lower quality of life, Oxford continues to lead the pack in a number of areas: according to the International Student Barometer, Oxford came first out of 200 international universities for the subject expertise of its lecturers. The first-year median salaries of Oxford graduates are similarly impressive, at £24,800 against Durham’s £22,000.
Overall, there was little correlation between student satisfaction and academic performance. High-performing universities such as Imperial College, London and UCL all have relatively low student satisfaction.
A first-year Classicist at St. Chad’s College, Durham, who was previously interviewed at Keble College, puts this phenomenon down to the “edgy and competitive” atmosphere he experienced at Oxford.
He told Cherwell, “Durham is nowhere near as intimidating as Oxford was, and the emphasis placed on extra-curricular activities whilst maintaining academic rigour and interest is helping me to enjoy both while I am at university.”
Whether the figures provide and accurate representation of quality of life, however, is uncertain. The quality of sporting facilities has a disproportionate impact on the results despite being based only on universities’ performances in British Universities and Colleges Sport competitions. Loughborough and Durham do well, having topped the BUCS table in the 2012/13 season, while Oxford’s croquet lawns and free gym membership do not score any points.
The phrase “quality of life” is also unclear, attempting to combine the subjective satisfaction of students with objective factors such as the number of pubs within walking distance of an institution.
Other polls have revealed a different story from the one put forward by Lloyds. This year’s National Student Survey of over 300,000 final year students in fact placed Oxford above Durham by one percentage point, while Bath, which is sixth in the Lloyd’s survey, comes top.
Despite the problems with this data, the results as a whole are positive: the National Student Survey reported a very high satisfaction rate of 86% nationwide, marginally increasing on last year’s record. These surveys may not give a reliable picture of the marginal differences between the experiences of students in top universities, but do identify an encouraging overall trend.
