What’s so great about the Russell Group anyway?
What it is, what it does — and why you should care.
When people talk about universities, certain words and phrases quickly get thrown around, often having to do with an institution’s perceived level of prestige or the extent to which it might be regarded as ‘elite’. A phrase you may have heard being bandied about is ‘the Russell Group’, often used as a shorthand to refer to something like the ‘top-tier’ of universities in the UK.
Universities — ‘ancient’, ‘redbrick’ or ‘new’?
Let’s be clear — this article is intended to help you make an informed choice about where to apply to study for your undergraduate degree. It’s important to keep in mind that you can have a great educational experience whichever higher education institution (HEI) you attend, including those whose ‘university status’ only dates back to the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (legislation which created a new category of university out of existing HEIs that hadn’t previously been able to refer to themselves as such).
Named after the Hotel Russell in London’s Russell Square, where representatives of the group’s founding universities first began meeting informally, the 24 institutions of the Russell Group include most of the UK’s ‘ancient universities’ — meaning those founded before the year 1600 — as well as most of its ‘redbrick universities’ — meaning those founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The University of Leeds is a typical example of a redbrick.
Whilst regarding the Russell Group as synonymous with ‘the best universities in the UK’ is a little simplistic, these institutions — which have included Leeds in their number ever since the group formally came into being in 1994 — can certainly cite some impressive facts and figures.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics, for example, in 2017 only 17% of graduates in the UK held an undergraduate degree from a Russell Group institution, yet those same individuals held 61% all the jobs in the UK that require one.
But what does it actually do?
On the understanding that more can be achieved collectively than separately, the universities that make up the Russell Group work together to lobby the UK Government and Parliament, commission reports and research, and operate as a forum in which its member institutions can discuss issues of common interest — and identify ways of collaborating further.
This all happens in pursuit of a range of shared goals. Some are pretty broad — helping to strengthen communities, develop economies and enrich culture on a local, national and international scale — whilst others are more specific, and perhaps more immediately relevant to you.
For example, according to its website Russell Group universities work together to secure sustainable funding so they can continue to offer a high-quality experience to all of their students. They also collaborate on the undertaking of research into green technology and ways of reducing their own environmental impact. You can read more about how Leeds contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) here, or by watching the video below.
Let’s bust some jargon
Every institution in the Russell Group is a ‘research university’, which you may also have heard referred to as ‘research-intensive’ university. Universities like this regard one of their main purposes to be the pursuit and production of ‘new knowledge’ — in other words the formation, expression and evidencing of ideas and insights nobody has had before.
Recognition for having expanded the boundaries of academic knowledge in this way comes through the awarding of PhDs — and so the fact that Russell Group institutions award an average of 60% of these goes to show how much new knowledge is being produced at universities like Leeds every year.
What’s more, according to the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, universities in the Russell Group were conducting 65% of all the academic research happening in the UK that’s regarded as ‘world-leading’ (and 91% of all the research happening at Russell Group universities was also considered as such).
But should any of that matter to an undergraduate?
It’s a fair question, given that a student will typically need to complete both an undergraduate and a postgraduate degree before they can even start a PhD! However, another important function of research-intensive universities is to act as sites of what sociologists refer to as ‘intergenerational knowledge transfer’. This can be understood as what happens when students who’ve yet to complete an undergraduate or postgraduate degree are taught by people who either hold or are working towards a PhD — in other words, who have produced or who are in process of producing new forms of knowledge.
It would be true to say that the transfer of knowledge happens at all universities and HEIs, but an institution like Leeds can argue strongly that more (and richer) knowledge is being transferred through its teaching, just by dint of the number of teaching staff who have been — or who are currently — engaged in academic research at the highest possible level.
‘Academic’ vs ‘vocational’
Undergraduate degrees at research universities tend to be in more traditional ‘academic’ subjects — which are taught with an emphasis on theory — as opposed to ‘vocational’ degrees which aim to equip students with more practical, hands-on skills and qualify them to enter particular lines of work. Having said that, the Russell Group claims that more than a third of engineers, four out of five doctors and dentists, half of linguists, 58% of physical scientists and 63% of mathematicians are graduates of its institutions.
Regardless, it’s important to remember that many employers will value a degree from a university like Leeds highly, as they’ll understand that whoever holds one will have important life skills developed over the course of their studies. Of these, perhaps the most crucial is the ability to think independently — and critically.
This all sounds great — what’s the catch?
There are certain consequences of being a Russell Group university that a prospective student might want to consider— but which you also shouldn’t be deterred by.
Finance certainly isn’t one. Virtually all universities now charge tuition fees at the top end of what they’re allowed to — in most cases, including at Leeds, for those starting university in the academic year 2023/24 that was £9,250 per year for full-time study.
There’s no denying it’s a lot of money, but it’s worth remembering you won’t be required to pay anything at all upfront — and you’ll only begin to pay back your student loan after graduating with an undergraduate degree once you’re earning more than £25,000 per year. The amount you pay back is also proportionate to your income — for example, if you earn £26,000 per year you’ll only pay back £90 per year.
In fact, the word ‘loan’ is a bit of a red herring in that student finance repayments work more like a ‘graduate tax’ rather than a bank or credit card loan. Repayments are deducted automatically from your wages just like income tax, and stop if your earnings drop below £25,000 per year. If you never earn above the threshold you won’t ever pay anything back. The loan is also wiped after 40 years, regardless of how much or little you’ve repaid, and won’t ever be passed on to any family members either.
Your chance of getting a place? It’s true that in the context of all UK higher education providers Russell Group universities are selective institutions — and, according to The Sutton Trust, Leeds is in the top 30 most selective in the country.
However — and this is something which is particularly relevant to our remit at the Lifelong Learning Centre (LLC) — the Russell Group also claims to continuously work to make its member institutions more accessible to students from a widening range of backgrounds.
In fact, the LLC exists in part to help widen participation in higher education by applicants from ‘non-traditional’ backgrounds, where going to university has not necessarily been the norm. We do this through ‘contextual admissions’ schemes which you can read about in more detail here, and also through our Foundation Year provision — the academic entry requirements for which are significantly lower than is typical at Leeds, but which have other criteria designed to encourage applications from under-represented groups.
We hope you’ve found this article helpful in understanding a bit more about the Russell Group — and perhaps it’s encouraged you to give more thought to Leeds as an option for your own university journey.
If you’d like to find out more about what we offer, including our full-time Foundation Years, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here at the LLC.
