QS World University Rankings
Methodological outline
The ranking currently evaluates around 600 universities in the world and ranks the top 400. Plans are in place to both broaden the work in terms of number of institutions and deepen it in terms of the detail provided to users.
Six indicators are drawn together to form an international ranking of universities. In addition rankings in five key subject areas are produced: Arts & Humanities, Engineering & IT, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences.
For complete information on the QS World University Rankings, including detailed explanation of the methodology and the full tables please visit www.topuniversities.com
Key Benefits
1. Provides an accessible tool to help prospective international students
shortlist potential destination universities
2. Provides a counterpoint to other evaluations of international universities
3. Provides a rudimentary map of the international higher education
landscape, which can and has been used as a component in both
institutional and governmental strategic decision making
Format
Online at www.topuniversities.com. Also receives significant coverage in many national and international newspapers (See the QS Press Room).
Publication date
Published annually in October
Indicators to evaluate the overall position of a university
Academic Peer Review
A global survey of academics asking respondents to identify universities they consider excellent in their own broad field of knowledge.
Employer Review
A global survey of employers, with experience of recruiting from universities, asking respondents to identify universities they consider to be best at preparing their graduates for the workplace.
Citations per Faculty Member
Using exported information from Scopus, this measure combines research productivity and quality, taking into account the scale of an institution.
Student Faculty Ratio
In lieu of a globally available evaluation of teaching quality, this indicator is designed to serve as a widely available proxy for commitment to teaching.
International Students
The proportion of international students is used to evaluate not only a university’s broad approach to internationalization but also to give prospective students feeling for an institution’s commitment and facilities
for students from overseas.
International Faculty
This indicator supports the previous one in assessing a university’s commitment to providing a global education for an increasingly global post-education environment.
