Please do note that I said 'similar term', I didn't say it was a direct equivalent. I was just providing an example that someone from the US might immediately understand.
It's a phrase that someone from the associated region of the world can generally go "Oh, you attended a <terminology> school?" and immediately have certain stereotypes and assumptions (accurate or not) come to mind.
What makes Edinburgh special in that regard? As far as I can gather the admissions standards and support levels aren't in the same league as Oxbridge. League table results are fairly high for most subjects, but not any more so than some other russell group members.
According to various world rankings, it's top 20-40 and 5th or 6th in Britain and Europe.
But it's quite strong for CS/AI, as they have the largest CS department in Europe, producing the largest amount of world-leading research (according to the latest government-organised Research Assessment Exercise).
For undergrads that means there is an unparalleled variety of courses you can take, both in depth and breadth. I remember I had a choice of about 25 courses in my 3rd year and over 50 in my final year. For most British universities, your choice is rather limited - usually between 8-12 courses each year. Another bonus is that you get to work with leading researchers on your final year project. E.g. some of my friends were supervised by Phil Wadler - the guy was one of the principal inventors of Haskell and, with Gilad Bracha and Martin Odersky, designed Java generics and the extensions of the Collections framework.
So, Edinburgh is quite special and CS/AI is a particular focus at the University, so it's a shame not enough people know it.
Edinburgh is definitely not quite Oxbridge level on those factors. But it certainly is higher than the 'Red brick universities'. There are 24 universities in the Russell Group, and none of the red brick universities fall in the top 5 as it is an outdated term. It could be argued that Edinburgh falls in the top 5, which are comparable to the Ivy League.
Erm, no. Red Bricks are ex-polytechnics or newbuild universities, generally specialising in quality degrees like urban forestry and golf course management. Oxford BROOKES is an example of a red brick. But not Oxford.
No. Just no. You are wrong. Red brick universities are not ex-polys. Just read the Wikipedia link in the parent post. I went to University of Sheffield, which is one of the Red Brick Universities and it has always been an Uni. Sheffield Halam, however, is the ex poly.
In common usage the term "red brick university" is at least a little bit disparaging . It tends to be used to emphasise that we are not talking about the entrenched, traditional universities of proven excellence - Oxford and Cambridge. So likening the term to "ivy league" is very confusing. Better to say "red brick university" (UK) = "not ivy league" (USA). Note that I don't buy into this judgmental attitude myself.
It used to be disparaging (compared to Oxbridge) I don't think it has those connotations any more - the few red brick universities in the uk place highly in rankings.
