University of Bedfordshire - Academic Reputation

Academic Reputation

In 2000 the University of Luton was ranked 83 out of 93 British Universities by The Times in their annual University ranking, rising to 72 out of 101 two years later. In 2004, the University's then high drop-out rate, and decision to allow students to progress go on to their third year of their degree even if they fail to pass their first and second year exams led the Sunday Telegraph to ask "Is this the worst university in Britain?" Luton's vice-chancellor responded by drawing attention to its teaching quality, which had been rated 14th out of 121 similar institutions the previous year by The Times.

The Sunday Times also awarded the University of Luton the title of Best New University in 2004 (prior to the purchase of the Bedford campus and rebranding). The QAA conducted a thorough institutional audit of the University as a whole in 2005 (prior to the merger of the University), which resulted in the audit team’s questioning of the academic standards of its awards and its lack of confidence in the university's quality standards. However, after the audit was taken the QAA was provided with information that indicates that appropriate action was taken by the University in response to the findings of this report. As a result the audit was signed off in July 2007.

In 2008 Professor Les Ebdon said that he had accepted voluntary redundancy from 30 staff members. The university said that less than half were academic staff. Professor Ebdon said: "I don't know of any university in the East of England which isn't making some adjustment to staff numbers. Most of us have squeezed other expenditures as much as we can. Staffing is the area left where expenditure can be taken out, and it is the biggest cost." According to the same article "Relative to many other universities, Bedfordshire spends a low proportion of its income on staff."

The university has been criticised for its association with the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, an unacredited and controversial organisation whose founder, Patrick Holford's advocacy of vitamin C as better than conventional drugs to treat AIDS was described as 'very scary' by the British Dietetic Association.

According to the THES in 2008 the university threatened legal action against a web site after one of its course was labelled "shocking" because of its staff-to-student ratio.

After the QAA audit conducted in 2009 the University was awarded a “Confidence” rating.