Norrington Table

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The Norrington Table is an annual ranking that lists the colleges of the University of Oxford in order of the performance of their undergraduate students on that year's final examinations. It was created in 1962 by Sir Arthur Norrington, who was then president of Trinity College. Although the difference between the highest places on the table is usually very slight, the top colleges remain very competitive about their rankings on the Table their competitiveness has been heightened in recent years by increased media attention on the rankings. The Norrington Table is calculated by awarding 5 points for a student who receives a 1st Class, 3 points for a 2:1, 2 for a 2:2 and 1 for a 3rd, divided by the maximum possible score (i.e. the number of finalists in that college multiplied by 5), and expressed as a percentage (rounded to 2 decimal places) per college.

Previously the university had refused to endorse an official table, leading to inaccuracies (see Criticisms below), so the university finally published its own rankings using examination results from all final year undergraduates in 2005. The corresponding rankings for the University of Cambridge is the Tompkins Table.

Below is the Norrington Table for the academic year 2005/06:

Position College Norrington Score (%)
1 Merton College 75.96
2 Balliol College 75.79
3= Magdalen College 74.77
3= New College 74.77
5 St John's College 72.68
6 Christ Church 72.46
7 Wadham College 72.42
8 Lincoln College 71.26
9 Corpus Christi College 70.39
10 University College 70.26
11 Queen's College 69.79
12 Trinity College 69.76
13 St Edmund Hall 68.52
14 Worcester College 68.43
15 Brasenose College 68.06
16 Somerville College 67.86
17 Hertford College 67.48
18 Jesus College 67.11
19 Lady Margaret Hall 66.96
20 St Catherine's College 66.78
21 St Anne's College 66.67
22 St Hilda's College 66.49
23 Pembroke College 65.95
24 St Hugh's College 65.81
25 Exeter College 65.68
26 Keble College 65.16
27 St Peter's College 63.40
28 Oriel College 61.41
29 Mansfield College 61.38
30 Harris Manchester College 59.39


Many find the table unhelpful because it suggests a massive discrepancy between colleges - which could influence applications - even though the variations are often minimal.

Moreover, the table does not account for success in postgraduate examinations, nor for distinctions awarded for Master's degrees. This criticism is underscored by the fact that several of the colleges that appear low on the Norrington Table have the best records of success with their graduate students.

Also, the table is biased towards colleges which have larger than average numbers of students in science subjects such as Chemistry and Mathematics where a higher proportion attain a 1st Class degree compared to arts degrees (where the majority attain a 2.1), a feature in respect of which scores are adjusted in the corresponding Tompkins Table at Cambridge.

There is also a fear that competitive colleges could be unreasonable in demanding students who may miss a 2:1 to be "sent down" (expelled), or those who may miss out on a 1st to defer. Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests that this happens only extremely rarely, if ever.

Up until 2004, a key criticism was that students were allowed to withdraw their names from the public lists and were thus not counted — Trinity College President Sir Michael Beloff likened this to a Premiership final league table, only with several random results missing. In 2004, in response to this criticism, the University started issuing its own official Norrington Table, which accounted for all degrees issued, including those of people who opted out of the public lists. The rankings published since then, therefore, do not possess this weakness.

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