1994 Group - Overview

Overview

The 1994 Group highlight 3 key distinguishing features/ strengths of their members:

1. High quality, internationally renowned research
2. Research-led teaching
3. High levels of student experience

1994 Group universities achieved excellent results in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008. 57% of the 1994 Group’s research is rated 4* world-leading or 3* internationally excellent.

Research-led teaching is central to the 1994 Group’s mission. A large proportion of the top academics who achieved the Group’s results in RAE 2008 teach students.

In the annual National Student Survey the majority of the top 10 universities rated on student satisfaction are 1994 Group members every year. The Group’s aggregate performance substantially exceeds the sector as a whole.

According to the 'Patterns 3' report by Universities UK, "The Russell Group and the 1994 Group share many features, but are distinguished chiefly by the fact that most members of the Russell Group have medical schools, and an emphasis on science and technology. Within the Russell Group a small number of institutions are outliers on the basis of the statistical information available, and if these were excluded from the analysis, the Russell Group and the 1994 Group would show very similar characteristics." The similarities between the Russell and 1994 Groups in terms of research quality is supported by an academic study of critical mass. According to this study, once a research department gets above a certain size, dubbed upper critical mass, research quality tends to saturate. Since Russell- and 1994-Group universities tend to contain research departments which are above upper critical mass, their qualities are similar. It should be noted that several of the 1994 Group institutions also have medical schools and an emphasis on science and technology, so this is not a clear distinguishing feature of the Russell group.