A new league table by Uswitch has revealed The University of Birmingham as the 4th best university for online learning.

Uswitch, a UK-based price comparison site, studied 50 of the most populated universities across the UK to find the best establishments for students to learn online. The study analysed the range of online courses offered, research quality, Guardian university ratings and student experience ratings. 

The University of Cambridge took the top spot as the best university for online teaching, possessing an exceptional Guardian rating of 97.8 and scoring a high 88% for research quality. Runners-up were University College London in second place and The University of Leeds in third, with both universities hosting an wide range of online courses and holding high ratings for student experience at 4.14/5 for UCL and 4.41/5 for Leeds.

In 4th place, Birmingham boasts the biggest range of online courses with 116 degrees and 27 short courses available to study, ranging from diploma, Master’s degree, PhD and Doctorate levels of research. Birmingham also stands out as a student-favourite, being highly rated for student experience with a score of 4.46/5. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, most students experienced online learning as a core part of their degree, where studying from home and watching lectures pre-recorded online replaced in-person lecture theatres and seminars.

The number of online students doubled between 2020 and 2021, with the need for online learning posing a challenge of teaching students in an effective, thorough manner without the benefit of face-to-face contact. 

Megan Lee, a third year English Literature student experienced an almost entirely online-based first year of university when she started studying at UoB in September 2020. When asked about her experience learning remotely, Lee felt that ‘lecturers made the best effort to make teaching engaging and informative despite the conditions of the pandemic’. 

Many elements of online learning have now become a permanent fixture of teaching at the university, with the recording of in-person lectures and 1-2-1 meetings over zoom enabling students to study in a dynamic way that suits their learning needs.

Post-covid, the convenience of online learning has seen a sustained popularity in students choosing to learn remotely. Lectures that are available to watch 24/7 online and meetings that do not require in-person attendance are much more compatible with the need for flexibility in modern day life. 

Uswitch’s report also looked at the most popular online courses to study. By analysing Google search information, Accounting was revealed as the most popular course (7,695 annual Google searches) with English (7,362 searches) and Marketing (6,381 searches) coming in second and third respectively. 

This desire to study online reflects a move away from traditional learning frames and reinforces how online learning, when delivered effectively, can be as valuable as in person teaching.