University of Sheffield gets back in the big time

The last few years have been a difficult time for higher education, but the University of Sheffield at last has something to celebrate. After missing out for the last two years, the university has once again been named as one of the best 100 in the world, according to the prestigious ranking firm QS. Vice Chancellor Koen Lamberts was ecstatic: the ranking makes the university more attractive to international students and could turn its fortunes around. But is it “too little, too late”, as one academic claimed to us? That’s our big story today.

As well as that, we have news of discontent in the Sheffield Labour Party, comedy and classical music in things to do, and a lovely home in Norton Lees with its own Little Mesters outbuilding.

Help us out: We are currently looking into a story about exclusions in Sheffield schools after it was revealed that the city has "consistently exceeded" the national average in recent years. If you are a teacher with experience of this issue, please email victoria@sheffieldtribune.co.uk.

In case you missed it

For our weekend read, Dan visited a part of Sheffield that doesn't get talked about too much: Jordanthorpe and Batemoor. The two estates, which are among the most deprived parts of Sheffield, have recently learned that they are to receive £20 million over the next 10 years. However, many are worried that the money won’t address the deep-seated problems the estate faces like poor housing and anti-social behaviour. You can read that piece here.

Last week we sent out two great newsletters packed with original journalism and great recommendations to our growing band of paying members. On Tuesday, Victoria visited the new BAE factory in Tinsley, which many of our local leaders hope can be a shot in the arm for our manufacturing industries. However, for all the bullish talk of the defence dividend, she came away feeling queasy about what the weapons made there will ultimately be used for. And on Thursday, top culture writer Daniel Dylan Wray spoke to Sheffield music legend Richard Hawley, 20 years after the release of his breakthrough album Coles Corner, as he prepared to play The Leadmill for the very last time. An extract from that first piece is below.

In return for rolling out the red carpet, the SYMCA has secured an immense facility that will eventually create 200 highly-skilled jobs and could lure other defence manufacturers to Sheffield in future. As Defence Secretary John Healey concluded his rousing speech: “It’s a good day for Sheffield, a good day for South Yorkshire, a good day for BAE and a good day for the UK economy.” What makes me uneasy — and quite keen to get rid of my BAE party favours — is knowing that all of this will ultimately be paid for in blood.

The big picture: Pride takes wing 🏳️‍🌈

The second Kelham Pride took place on Saturday, welcoming thousands of people to the streets of one of Sheffield's coolest neighbourhoods. After hundreds of people took part in the Pride parade from Kelham Island Museum at 12.30pm, revellers were treated to a full day of live music, DJs, drag acts, entertainment, food and drink across three stages and dozens of partner venues. After five years in which Sheffield didn’t have a Pride festival at all, hopefully Kelham Pride has now become a permanent fixture in the city’s calendar. 

The big story: University of Sheffield gets back in the big time

Top line: Last week, higher education analytics firm Quacquarelli Symonds published its influential ranking of universities around the world, in which the University of Sheffield placed in the top 100 — something it last achieved in 2023/24. The university ranked 92nd in the world for 2026, which is the best result it has achieved in the last five years. 

Why does this matter? The QS rankings are of grave importance to international students from China and these students are, in turn, hugely important to the University of Sheffield. In the 2023/24 academic year, over half of the more than 10,000 international students studying at the university hailed from China. As we’ve explained previously, all UK universities increasingly rely on income from international students to balance their budgets, since these students’ fees are not subject to the same caps as students from the UK. Last year, a student on Rednote — a Chinese social media app similar to TikTok — complained that the university had begun charging international students on their course an eye-watering £31,000 a year.

Why QS? As a Chinese international student told The Tribune earlier this year, there’s no clear reason why the QS rankings are considered more definitive back home than any other, but it’s undeniable that they are. Some jobs in the Chinese government even specify that they require a degree from a “QS top 100” university. Since the university slipped out of the QS top 100 in 2024, its official account on Rednote has been bombarded with comments from Chinese students begging it improve. 

When the university slipped out of the QS top 100, the effect on enrollment from China — and, thus, on the university’s finances — was pronounced. Only a month after that academic year began, the BBC reported that the university was scrambling to cope with a £50 million shortfall, which a spokesperson largely attributed to a decline in international students. One academic, who asked to speak anonymously, told The Tribune they believe the “downward spiral of job losses” that has been taking place at the university recently would not have been necessary if the university had remained in the top 100. 

How did the university turn this around? As QS’s own website explains, it considers a number of factors when ranking universities, including student experience, university partnerships, research activity and staff qualifications. A press release from the University of Sheffield, celebrating its return to the QS top 100 last week, stated that its highest scores were for the diversity of its international student body — a metric newly considered in this year’s QS rankings — and the number of research partnerships it had with other institutions around the world. Vice Chancellor Koen Lamberts said the university’s improved score was “a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire community and reflects our commitment to research excellence, innovative teaching, and providing a truly global experience for our staff and students".

‘Playing the game’: Behind the scenes, academics allege the university’s improved ranking is down to the institution finally bothering to cynically “play the game” that other universities have been playing for years. Last year, internal emails shared with The Tribune showed the university was working hard to improve its performance in the “QS Academic and Employer Reputation Survey”. This survey, which forms a significant percentage of the overall score for each institution, involves QS contacting academics and employers worldwide and asking them to nominate five other universities they think particularly excel. 

Each university is able to nominate people to complete the QS reputation survey, meaning it can put forward those most likely to give it a high score. An email from Koen Lamberts sent to all academic staff last year asks them to contact their collaborators at other universities inviting them to take part in this survey. “You CANNOT ask them to nominate the University of Sheffield,” the email reads, although it states staff should “encourage” them to do so “to give us the best possible chance of improving the reputation score”. An academic told The Tribune that, in previous years, the university had not always bothered to nominate as many people as it could. However, since it slipped out of the QS top 100 two years ago, the university has “set aside a whole operation to pinpoint people who would be likely to highly rate them”. (An invitation to complete the QS survey was even sent to The Tribune.)

‘Too little, too late’: For some staff, it’s frustrating that the university only began focusing on its QS ranking after leaving the top 100, with one describing its efforts as “too little, too late”. As the Financial Times reported earlier this month, UK universities in general are faring worse in the QS rankings — in part due to increased competition from universities in Asia — so the University of Sheffield will have to work hard to ensure it doesn’t slip once more. “The university’s management needs to come up with a more coherent strategy of how to maintain this position,” an academic told The Tribune. “A seemingly small slip in any metric can equal a real downgrade in rank.” 

Bottom line: Does returning to the top 100 mean the university’s financial woes are over? Not exactly. One academic said enrollment from China is unlikely to bounce back immediately but that, if the university doesn’t slip out of the top 100 again, they believe “the financial black hole the university needed to fill will evaporate”. However, this won’t bring back the staff who have already left — in some subjects, a third of staff are expected to leave in the latest round of redundancies. The loss of so many staff could, in turn, affect the university’s ability to provide a good student experience, leading it to decline in the rankings once more. While some staff are cautiously optimistic, one suggested this good news is merely “a brief respite from a deeper malaise”. 

Your Tribune briefing 🗞️

💦 As The Tribune reported last week, Yorkshire is currently in drought. Which makes Yorkshire Water’s announcement over the weekend that they are going to be putting more money into stopping leaks sound a bit like saying they are closing the stable door after the horse had bolted. The company is currently asking customers to reduce their water usage voluntarily, but are widely expected to impose hosepipe bans later this summer. They now say they will be investing £16 million this year to help cut the number of leaks and bursts and have recruited 100 inspectors to find and fix them. In October, the Environment Agency revealed that in 2023/2024, over a fifth of Yorkshire Water's supplies were lost due to leakage.

🏭 Three Sheffield Labour councillors have broken ranks with their party to call for the city to break its links with the arms trade. As The Tribune has written recently, local leaders including Sheffield Labour leader Tom Hunt have claimed that the defence industries have “significant potential to be a new engine for growth” in our region. However, writing in Now Then, Councillors Nabeela Mowlana (Park and Arbourthorne), Minesh Parekh (Crookes and Crosspool) and Zahira Naz (Darnall) say that Sheffield’s “proud legacy of peace-making and international solidarity” will be imperilled if it becomes known as a weapons manufacturer.

👑 Have you ever wanted to be the Lord of Rotherham? Well, now you might be able to. The BBC report that specialist vendors Manorial Services are currently offering the lordship to the highest bidder, with the starting price of just £15,000. The title last changed hands in 1988, and has previously been held by the Earls of Shrewsbury, the Dukes of Norfolk and the Earls of Effingham. It was first given by William the Conqueror to his half-brother Robert after the Norman Conquest. "It is very unusual for the lordship of such an important and well-known place to come to the market,” a spokesperson for Manorial Services said.

Coming up

This week we will be sending two more packed editions of The Tribune to our paying members. On Tuesday, Tribune writer Holly Williams will be speaking to Dino Sofos, the CEO of Sheffield-based podcast company Persephonica, ahead of this year's edition of the Crossed Wires podcast festival. Last year’s festival was a huge success and this year’s edition is even bigger and better. Can Persephonica turn Sheffield into the podcast capital of the country? To get all that and more sent directly to your inbox, join The Tribune today.

This week’s weather 🌥️

Our weather forecast comes from dedicated Sheffield weather service Steel City Skies, who say we have a much more changeable week ahead with bright spells, breezy winds and outbreaks of rain or showers at times. Temperatures closer to average.

Monday 🌥 Brightening up after a showery start, with drier conditions developing from the west. Windy at times with highs of 21C. Showery rain likely tonight.

Tuesday 🌦 Damp for much of the day with cloudy spells, fleeting brighter intervals and some occasional showers eventually clearing. Windy from the west with highs of 21C.

Wednesday 🌥 Showers more isolated but feeling rather muggy with lighter winds and higher temperatures. Rather cloudy overall with highs of 25C possible.

Thursday 🌦 Unsettled and breezy with the risk of some heavy showers or spells of rain. Drier and brighter spells in between with highs of 23C.

Friday 🌦 Windy with the risk of further showers from the west, though some places may well stay dry. Temperatures close to average with highs of 23C.

Outlook: Models show potential for a ridge of high pressure from the south into the weekend, reducing the shower risk and promoting a warmer and sunnier spells ⛅ Fingers crossed!

To see the full forecast and keep up to date with any changes to the outlook, follow Steel City Skies on Facebook.

The weekly Whitworth ✍️

Cartoonist James Whitworth with his take on the news that Yorkshire Water have declared a drought, the area’s fourth in seven years.

Home of the week 🏡

This Edwardian four-bed semi in Norton Lees has been fully modernised while retaining much of its original period charm and history. Best of all, it also has its own “Little Mesters” outbuilding dating from 1896 which is ripe for further conversion, offering excellent potential as a workshop, studio, or even as additional living space. It is on the market for £325,000.

Things to do 📆

Comedy 🎤 On Monday, Migration Matters continues with an epic night of comedy at The Crucible. Headlining on the night is Taskmaster star and British-Moroccan comedian Fatiha El-Ghorri, whose humour smashes Muslim stereotypes and challenges people to think about what they think they know about Islam, Muslims, and Muslim women especially. Support comes from Esther Manito and Seeta Wrightson. Tickets are £4-17 and doors open at 7pm.

Music 🎻 Taking place all week at St Nicholas’ Church in High Bradfield is the 2025 Bradfield Festival of Music. This year’s festival features Nikolaas Kende and Jolente De Maeyer, a violin and piano duo from Belgium who have won prize after prize for their performances, and Symphonic Brass of London, who will perform classics from Handel to Lennon and McCartney. Tickets are priced from £16-£25. Under 25s tickets are £10.

Art 🖼️ On Tuesday, enjoy a guided tour of the Graves Gallery and take a closer look at some of the abstract artworks on display. On the tour you’ll discover how artists such as Bridget Riley, John Hoyland and Mark Firth experiment with colour, form or line. And you’ll take a closer look at 20th and 21st century works that can all be loosely defined as abstract. The 45-minute tour begins at 2pm and is free, although a donation of £5 is suggested.