Ole J Kemi, Victoria Penpraze, Nairn Scobie, Niall G MacFarlane
{"title":"Graduate prospects explain undergraduate program standing in university league sports science tables.","authors":"Ole J Kemi, Victoria Penpraze, Nairn Scobie, Niall G MacFarlane","doi":"10.1152/advan.00126.2023","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>UK university undergraduate programs are compared by independent subject-specific rankings (Complete, Guardian, and Times), based on data from the National Student Survey, Higher Education Statistics Agency, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, Research Excellence Framework, and the universities. The sports and exercise science program at the University of Glasgow has steadily risen to currently rank as the top UK program. This investigation aimed to identify the underlying factors that explain this. Therefore, we obtained underlying scores for entry standard, student satisfaction, research foundation, graduate prospects, staff-to-student ratio, expenditure/student, continuation, program support to students, and teaching quality from the ranking providers for years 2010-2024, and statistically modeled which factors significantly affected the rankings. We found that entry standards and graduate prospects strongly correlated significantly with ranking results. Principal component analysis indicated that a model of graduate prospects and entry standards explained 66.2% of the variance in ranking results. Multiple linear regression with all underlying factors included in the model indicated they explained 78% (<i>R</i><sup>2</sup> = 0.78) of the total variance, while stepwise elimination of insignificant factors identified graduate prospects as the sole factor that significantly affected outcome by explaining 71% (<i>R</i><sup>2</sup> = 0.71) of the variance. Therefore, the primary predictor of ranking success in UK university league tables for sports science is graduates' professional success (graduate prospects).<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> University rankings are used by applicants and stakeholders to judge programs, including undergraduate studies. In the rankings, undergraduate UK programs are compared and contrasted against each other based on how they score for criteria that affect student life and future prospects. Here, we determined the relative influence of those criteria and found that graduate prospects, how students professionally benefit from their study after graduation, is the factor that matters most for the ranking results.</p>","PeriodicalId":50852,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Physiology Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Advances in Physiology Education","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00126.2023","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/2/29 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
UK university undergraduate programs are compared by independent subject-specific rankings (Complete, Guardian, and Times), based on data from the National Student Survey, Higher Education Statistics Agency, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, Research Excellence Framework, and the universities. The sports and exercise science program at the University of Glasgow has steadily risen to currently rank as the top UK program. This investigation aimed to identify the underlying factors that explain this. Therefore, we obtained underlying scores for entry standard, student satisfaction, research foundation, graduate prospects, staff-to-student ratio, expenditure/student, continuation, program support to students, and teaching quality from the ranking providers for years 2010-2024, and statistically modeled which factors significantly affected the rankings. We found that entry standards and graduate prospects strongly correlated significantly with ranking results. Principal component analysis indicated that a model of graduate prospects and entry standards explained 66.2% of the variance in ranking results. Multiple linear regression with all underlying factors included in the model indicated they explained 78% (R2 = 0.78) of the total variance, while stepwise elimination of insignificant factors identified graduate prospects as the sole factor that significantly affected outcome by explaining 71% (R2 = 0.71) of the variance. Therefore, the primary predictor of ranking success in UK university league tables for sports science is graduates' professional success (graduate prospects).NEW & NOTEWORTHY University rankings are used by applicants and stakeholders to judge programs, including undergraduate studies. In the rankings, undergraduate UK programs are compared and contrasted against each other based on how they score for criteria that affect student life and future prospects. Here, we determined the relative influence of those criteria and found that graduate prospects, how students professionally benefit from their study after graduation, is the factor that matters most for the ranking results.
期刊介绍:
Advances in Physiology Education promotes and disseminates educational scholarship in order to enhance teaching and learning of physiology, neuroscience and pathophysiology. The journal publishes peer-reviewed descriptions of innovations that improve teaching in the classroom and laboratory, essays on education, and review articles based on our current understanding of physiological mechanisms. Submissions that evaluate new technologies for teaching and research, and educational pedagogy, are especially welcome. The audience for the journal includes educators at all levels: K–12, undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs.