teaching vs research and the impact of league tables on recruitment

According to this week's Times Higher, the LSE is "responding to criticism" regarding its teaching by providing a fund of £2 million to help redress the balance between teaching and research. Goals include setting a maximum class size of 15 and a reduction in reliance on postgraduate students to act as tutors, particularly at Masters level.

In an article in the Higher Education Quarterly, Rod Gunn and Steve Hill explore the impact of League tables on UK university application rates. Statistically speaking there was a strong influence when League Tables were a relatively new phenomenon, but since then the system seems to have settled into a number of categories of institution largely differentiated over whether they are more selective and attract applicants from the pool or whether they are 'recruiting' institutions which have to focus on avoiding an applications shortfall.