Editing Norrington Table

{{short description|Table that ranks Oxford Colleges}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}
The '''Norrington Table''' was an annual ranking of the [[Colleges of the University of Oxford|college]]s of the [[University of Oxford]] based on a score computed from the proportions of undergraduate students earning each of the various [[British undergraduate degree classification|degree classifications]] based on that year's [[final examination]]s. It was discontinued in 2024.

== Overview ==
The rankings of each college in the Norrington Table were calculated by awarding 5 points for a student who receives a First [[British undergraduate degree classification|Class degree]], 3 points for a 2:1, 2 points for a 2:2 and 1 point for a Third Class degree; the total was then divided by the maximum possible score (i.e. the number of finalists in that college multiplied by 5), and the result for each college is expressed as a percentage, rounded to 2 decimal places.

Previously the university had refused to endorse an official table, leading to inaccuracies (see [[Norrington Table#Criticisms|Criticisms]] below), so the university finally published its own rankings using examination results from all final year undergraduates in 2005.

In November 2024, the Conference of Colleges discontinued the system, stating that the Norrington Table did not "encapsulate the added value given by college teaching" and that "it [did not] relate to differences at the level of specific degree courses.”, evidence of the system being unfit for purpose. Discussions as to a replacement system are ongoing.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hothi |first1=Ekam |title=College heads scrap the Norrington Table |url=https://cherwell.org/2024/11/27/college-heads-scrap-the-norrington-table/ |website=Cherwell |date=27 November 2024 |access-date=4 May 2025}}</ref>

== History==

Contrary to popular belief, the Norrington Table was not created in 1962 by [[Arthur Lionel Pugh Norrington|Sir Arthur Norrington]], who was then president of [[Trinity College, Oxford|Trinity College]].  Norrington did not invent the idea of producing a table of the results of [[Colleges of the University of Oxford|Oxford colleges]]. Rather, he suggested a refinement to the weightings given to results in a existing table. Norrington's scoring system was suggested in 1963 and abandoned after 1985, owing to changes in the Oxford examination system.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/exams|title=Examinations and assessments &#124; University of Oxford|website=www.ox.ac.uk}}</ref>

On 5 September 1963, Norrington had a letter published in ''[[The Times]]'', in which he objected to the table that their correspondent had published two days earlier (3 September 1963, p.&nbsp;12). ''The Times'' had previously published a table of Oxford colleges' results in 1962 (29 August 1962, p.&nbsp;5).

Norrington wrote: "Your Correspondent has analysed the final examination results this year and gives an order of merit, among the first colleges, based on the percentage of Firsts and Seconds.  This, in effect, is the same as basing it on the percentage of Thirds, and gives it no extra credit for Firsts.  College A, for example, that gets 20 Firsts, 60 Seconds, and 20 Thirds scores less by this method than College B that gets no Firsts, 81 Seconds and 19 Thirds, but surely A has, in reality, done much better than B.  A better result, I submit, is obtained by a points system in which a First scores more than a second and a Second more than a Third.  If you make the points 3, 2, and 1 respectively and calculate what percentage of its "possible" each college has secured, you will find that College A, with 200 points out of 300, has scored 66.67 per cent, and B, with 181, only 60 per cent.  This method of calculation will be found to promote Magdalen and Merton, which come surprisingly low in your Correspondent's order."  (5 September 1963, p.&nbsp;13)

In 1986, when Oxford for the first time split Second Class honours into Upper Seconds and Lower Seconds, ''The Times'' unilaterally adopted the [[Tompkins Table]], which gives more weight to a First class degree: five points for a First, three for a 2.1, two for a 2.2, and one for a Third. This system was devised in 1981 by Peter Tompkins, of [[Birkenhead]], to classify the results of [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] colleges, and a table compiled by Tompkins on this basis was published on 28 August by ''The Times'' (28 Aug 1981, p.&nbsp;10) alongside a table using the Norrington scoring system, which had been compiled by the ''[[Cambridge Evening News]]''. The Tompkins Table became the preferred rating for [[Colleges of the University of Cambridge|Cambridge colleges]] and has prevailed for Oxford colleges as well since 1986.

=== Recent rankings ===
Below is the Norrington Table for the [[academic year]]s 2021/22 and 2019/20 along with mean values for the period 2006 to 2019.<ref name="ox.ac.uk" />
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!College/<br />Hall
!2022 Score<br />%
!2020 Score<br />%
!Mean Score<br />(2006–2019)<br />%
|-
|[[Merton College, Oxford|Merton]]
|80.9
|81.0
|75.60
|-
|[[Lincoln College, Oxford|Lincoln]]
|80.7
|79.5
|71.06
|-
|[[Harris Manchester College, Oxford|Harris Manchester]]
|77.7
|77.4
|65.90
|-
|[[The Queen's College, Oxford|Queen's]]
|77.7
|81.7
|69.90
|-
|[[St Peter's College, Oxford|St Peter's]]
|77.6
|81.5
|67.94
|-
|[[St Catherine's College, Oxford|St Catherine's]]
|77.2
|82.5
|70.48
|-
|[[Wadham College, Oxford|Wadham]]
|76.8
|80.9
|71.91
|-
|[[St John's College, Oxford|St John's]]
|76.5
|80.2
|74.49
|-
|[[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville]]
|76.4
|72.8
|68.27
|-
|[[Pembroke College, Oxford|Pembroke]]
|75.8
|78.0
|69.03
|-
|[[Keble College, Oxford|Keble]]
|75.8
|76.6
|69.65
|-
|[[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen]]
|75.7
|77.4
|75.42
|-
|[[Mansfield College, Oxford|Mansfield]]
|75.6
|75.5
|68.44
|-
|[[New College, Oxford|New College]]
|75.5
|83.5
|74.65
|-
|[[Brasenose College, Oxford|Brasenose]]
|74.9
|80.4
|70.81
|-
|[[Worcester College, Oxford|Worcester]]
|74.4
|78.8
|71.52
|-
|[[Oriel College, Oxford|Oriel]]
|74.3
|79.8
|69.54
|-
|[[University College, Oxford|University]]
|74.1
|78.9
|70.85
|-
|[[St Hilda's College, Oxford|St Hilda's]]
|73.9
|78.3
|67.99
|-
|[[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol]]
|73.7
|78.6
|72.62
|-
|[[Corpus Christi College, Oxford|Corpus Christi]]
|73.6
|77.0
|71.00
|-
|[[St Anne's College, Oxford|St Anne's]]
|72.8
|77.0
|69.51
|-
|[[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]]
|72.5
|75.6
|72.02
|-
|[[St Edmund Hall, Oxford|St Edmund Hall]]
|71.8
|76.5
|68.08
|-
|[[St Benet's Hall, Oxford|St Benet's Hall]]
|71.7
|69.5
|62.76
|-
|[[St Hugh's College, Oxford|St Hugh's]]
|71.2
|78.8
|68.55
|-
|[[Hertford College, Oxford|Hertford]]
|70.6
|79.2
|70.39
|-
|[[Trinity College, Oxford|Trinity]]
|70.3
|79.1
|71.30
|-
|[[Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford|Lady Margaret Hall]]
|69.7
|75.7
|68.11
|-
|[[Jesus College, Oxford|Jesus]]
|68.5
|78.0
|71.26
|-
|[[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter]]
|68.0
|75.8
|69.09
|-
|[[Wycliffe Hall, Oxford|Wycliffe Hall]]
|60.0
|63.6
|67.43
|-
|[[Regent's Park College, Oxford|Regent's Park]]
|68.9
|74.3
|64.13
|-
|[[St Stephen's House, Oxford|St Stephen's House]]
|50.0
|80.0
|59.46
|-
|}

=== Past rankings ===
Norrington Table rankings from 2006 to 2019 by college, ordered by mean rank, and omitting all [[Permanent private hall|PPHs]] since they take very few undergraduates,  with the exception of [[Regent's_Park_College,_Oxford|Regent's Park]]:<ref name="ox.ac.uk">{{cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/undergraduate-degree-classifications|title=Undergraduate Degree Classifications {{!}} University of Oxford|website=www.ox.ac.uk|accessdate=23 November 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Norrington Table rankings 2006-2019.png]]

== Criticisms ==
The table is biased towards colleges with above average proportions of students in science subjects such as chemistry and mathematics,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Stokes|first1=Matt|last2=Lewis|first2=Alis|last3=Restall|first3=James|title=Merton plummet in latest Norrington Table|url=http://oxfordstudent.com/2012/08/16/magdalen-top-dogs-in-norrington-table/|website=The Oxford Student|accessdate=16 June 2017|date=16 August 2012}}</ref> in which a higher proportion attain a first-class degree compared to humanities (in which more students attain a 2:1). The corresponding [[Tompkins Table]] at Cambridge makes an adjustment for this feature.

[[John Lucas (philosopher)|John Lucas]], Fellow of [[Merton College, Oxford|Merton]], presented a critique of the Norrington Table in a 1980 article titled "Norrington Blues".<ref>Lucas, John R., [http://users.ox.ac.uk/~jrlucas/itolduso/norrblue.html "Norrington Blues"], ''Oxford'' (May 1980), pp. 45–49.</ref>

==Other tables and debate over use of Norrington name==

The Norrington Table has inspired other tables ranking the performance of [[Oxford colleges]], such as the "Vegetarian Norrington Table", which was first published in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.veggienorringtontable.com|title=Vegetarian Norrington Table | publisher=Oxford University Animal Ethics Society|accessdate=21 April 2019}}</ref> A play on the original, the Vegetarian Norrington Table ranks the best and worst colleges in Oxford not for their undergraduate examination results, but for the quality of their [[vegetarian]] and [[vegan]] food, using data collected from staff and students of the [[University of Oxford|University]].<ref>{{cite web|first1=Toby|last1=Clyde|url= https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2016/10/05/voting-opens-vegetarian-norrington-table/|title=Voting Opens On A 'Vegetarian Norrington Table' | publisher=[[The Oxford Student]]|accessdate=21 April 2019|date=5 October 2016}}</ref> The table caused some controversy, however, as a number of college [[bursars]] argued that it bore no relation to the original and further questioned its metrics.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Jack|last1=Hunter|url=https://cherwell.org/2016/12/08/mansfield-tops-first-veggie-norrington-table/|title=Mansfield tops first 'Veggie Norrington Table'| publisher=[[Cherwell (newspaper)|The Cherwell]]|accessdate=21 April 2019|date=8 December 2016}}</ref> The current top-ranked college in the Vegetarian Norrington Table is [[Mansfield College, Oxford|Mansfield College]], followed by [[Worcester College]], with [[Kellogg College]] in third.

There have been attempts to rework the original Norrington Table, specifically in light of debates surrounding access and the equality of {{section link|Oxford University#Admission}} process. In 2018, one article used geographical data to rank colleges based on the percentage of undergraduate students from poorer backgrounds. In this same report, the Vice President of the [[Oxford University Student Union]] announced work was underway on an "alternative Norrington Table" which would seek to measure [[social mobility]] as well as academic success in colleges.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Alan|last1= Rusbridger|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/if-oxford-shrugs-alan-rusbridger-admissions-lmh|title=If Oxford shrugs| publisher=[[Prospect (magazine)|Prospect]]|accessdate=22 April 2019|date=18 September 2018}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Tompkins Table]]

==References==
{{reflist}}


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[[Category:1963 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Culture of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:History of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:University and college rankings]]
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