The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public research universities in the United Kingdom.
[4] As of 2017,[update] Russell Group members receive over three-quarters of all university research grant and contract income in the United Kingdom.
[6] In the 2023 Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF), of the 20 English Russell Group universities which were assessed, 7 hold gold awards (35%) and 13 silver (65%).
[13] In December 2005, it was announced that the Russell Group would be appointing its first full-time director-general as a result of a planned expansion of its operations, including commissioning and conducting its own policy research.
[10] In January 2013, it was announced that the Russell Group would establish an academic board to advise the English exams watchdog Ofqual on the content of A-Levels.
[17][18] The Russell Group states that "its aim is to help ensure that our universities have the optimum conditions in which to flourish and continue to make social, economic and cultural impacts through their world-leading research and teaching".
The Russell Group is led by Chief Executive Tim Bradshaw and chaired by Chris Day, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle.
The table below gives the members of the group, along with when they joined, their student and staff numbers, and their latest Teaching Excellence Framework overall rating (non-English universities were not assessed).
The LSE was, as in previous REF rounds, the exception, ranking 31st in terms of funding (down from 23rd in 2021/11) and seeing a nine per cent fall (£1.7 million) in its allocation.
Over the same period the total income of Russell Group universities rose by 69.9% in real terms, compared to a sector average of 54.4%.
[65] A Durham University academic, Vikki Boliver, published a report in 2015 claiming that the prestigious position of the Russell Group was not based on evidence, but rather successful marketing.
The other 22 members of the Russell Group sit in a second tier of universities along with 17 other "old" universities (Aberdeen, Bath*, Dundee, East Anglia*, Goldsmiths*, Heriot-Watt, Kent, Lancaster*, Leicester*, Loughborough*, Reading*, Royal Holloway*, St Andrews*, SOAS*, Strathclyde, Surrey* and Sussex*), mostly comprising former members of the defunct 1994 Group (shown by asterisks).
He also notes that this may lead to less scrutiny of the performance of non-Russell Group selective universities with respect to widening participation and improving access.
It is claimed that this will "restrict competition, discourage innovation and encourage inefficiency, thereby depriving students of lower prices and/or greater choice".
Analysis by the Labour Party in 2018 found that the number of students from disadvantaged areas has only increased by one percentage point since 2010.
This had said that "real progress has been made over the last few years" in widening access, but Bolívar highlighted four areas where the statistics used to justify this claim were misleading.