Russell Group

The Russell Group of universities is a self-selected group of large research-led British universities; 18 of its 19 members are in the top 20 in terms of research funding. The group is often presented in the media, and is perceived internationally, as a kind of British Ivy League, representing the interests of Britain's prestigious universities. However, unlike the Ivy League, all of the Russell Group universities are state-funded.

The group's purpose is to represent the views of their institutions (especially in lobbying government and parliament) and to commission reports to support their case. Their concerns are to lead the UK's research effort; to maximise income; to attract the best staff and students; to reduce government interference; and to exploit their collaborative advantage.

Although not directly related to its purpose, the Russell Group is often taken in studies to be representative of prestigious universities. However, like the Ivy League, the Russell Group is not a comprehensive list of prestigious universities. It may surprise many non-Americans to know that the Ivy League does not include MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, CalTech, Duke, University of Chicago, Georgetown, NYU, UCLA or even the university which receives the highest research funding in the US, Johns Hopkins University. By comparison, the Russell Group is much more representative of prestigious British universities. However, many fail to realise that the Russell Group does not include York or Durham Universities.

The 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 enough, and argued for the right to charge much higher so-called top-up fees. In response to this and other issues, the Student Unions of the Russell Group universities have formed the Aldwych Group.

The Russell group is so named because meetings 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. The group is chaired by Professor Michael Sterling, the Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham.

In terms of total research funding in 1998/9, the top 17 are Russell Group institutions. Cardiff comes in 19th, with non-Russell Group institutions Leicester in 18th and Queen Mary in 20th. Overall, the Russell Group had over 60% of the total research income of HE institutions in the UK. The LSE - which, though very elite, is very much out of place in the Russell Group in terms of its size - is down in 37th with less than half the research income of Cardiff, and the only Russell Group member not to make the top 20. However LSE does no science, technology and medicine, and in its area of social science receives the most research income of any social science institution. In the government ratings it is usually ranked in the top two or three for quality. However the gap between the largest and smallest institutions in the Russell Group is huge. The so-called 'Golden Triangle' of institutions (Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, and Imperial College - the London institutions of UCL and Imperial forming a single point on the triangle) have 40% of the research income of the Russell Group, while Cardiff has less than a quarter of the income of fourth-placed Cambridge.

The figures depend on factors other than solely quality, especially institutional size and subject spread (i.e. science, technology and medicine tend to attract more money).

More recently a sub group of 'super-elite' universities, with strong international standing, has emerged within the Russell constellation: the 'G5', comprising LSE, Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and UCL. These, according to press reports, have begun to make separate representations to government in search of additional funding, and for instance the vice-chancellors of these institutions sent a celebrated letter to the Times, in late 2003, on the subject of university finance.

The members

• Imperial College London
• King's College London
• London School of Economics
• University College London
• University of Birmingham
• University of Bristol
• University of Cambridge
• Cardiff University
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Glasgow
• University of Leeds
• University of Liverpool
• University of Manchester
• University of Newcastle upon Tyne
• University of Nottingham
• University of Oxford
• University of Sheffield
• University of Southampton
• University of Warwick

Russell Group website: http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/

See also

• Ivy League (a group comprising some of the most prestigious universities in the USA)
• Coimbra Group (a network of leading European universities)
• Aldwych Group (Students' Unions of the Russell Group universities - generally opposed to Russell Group policies such as higher tuition fees)
• British university
• Coalition of Modern Universities (Group of the ex-polytechnics)
• Red Brick university
• Campus university
• 1994 Group (smaller research-led British universities, including York, Durham, and St Andrews)
• Oxbridge
• Universitas 21 (a worldwide network of leading research universities)

External link

• Information on HERO (http://www.hero.ac.uk/reference_resources/russell_group3706.cfm)