Magdalen ranked 1st in the Norrington Table this year, whilst Merton, the previous holders of the top slot, fell to 14th place, ending a decade’s domination.
Magdalen ranked 1st in the Norrington Table this year, whilst Merton, the previous holders of the top slot, fell to 14th place, ending a decade’s domination.
The table, which ranks colleges by allocating points for each degree class, has been published each year by the University since 2005.
Before then graduate students unofficially compiled the list for The Times newspaper. Data Protection legislation in 2004 gave students the right to keep their degree class confidential, making public lists inaccurate.
Brasenose joined Magdalen at the top of the table, continuing its impressive rise shooting up 12 places 22nd in 2010 to 10th last year. New college retained third place, the same rank as last year.
Oriel gained 18 ranks, while Keble continued its rise, reaching the top ten only two years after coming 28th. Other successful Colleges included St Catherine’s, Balliol and Lincoln, all at least 10 positions higher.
This year’s table marks the first time in a decade that Merton are not among the top ten.Recent graduate Alanna Cole-Baker commented, “At first I was a bit disappointed only getting a 2:1. But when I realised I had played a vital role in salvaging the reputation of my college – in ensuring the word “Merton” no longer conjures up images of twitchy people crying in libraries.
“And in guaranteeing that Mertonians of the future will be far more likely to get laid than we ever were I felt a great, glowing sense of pride. It’s just really nice to know you’ve been able to give something back.”
Chris McCabe, the Academic Affairs officer for Merton JCR was keen to downplay the significance of the change, “Life in Merton doesn’t revolve around the Norrington table. We play sport and go out as much as the next college.”
He remained optimistic: “hopefully next year we will back on form.”The table is not without opposition. In 1993 a Fellow of Merton, J. R. Lucas, condemned the rankings, “they divert attention from the valuable to the merely assessable.”
The small sample size of the table has also led to criticism. The University notes that the rankings are of “limited statistical significance” because of the small number of students at each college.
Oxford statistician John Bithell found that older and wealthier colleges tend to do better academically, noting that each year at least 5 or 6 of the top colleges in the Norrington table will be from the top 10 wealthiest Colleges.
The ranking system receives as much attention as it receives criticism. Some applicants on popular forum thestudentroom.co.uk pour over the details of the table. One Balliol PPEist posted his analysis, “Given the pattern Balliol then Merton went through, I’m calling Magdalen having an absolute shocker in about 2015/2016.”
