What methodology does QS employ in its university rankings?

QS utilizes indicators like academic reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, employer reputation, and internationalization metrics to assess universities.

Are there notable changes compared to previous QS rankings?

Yes, the QS 2024 rankings highlight shifts in rankings due to varying factors like research excellence, global collaborations, and academic performance.

How can universities improve their positions in QS rankings?

Improving research output, enhancing faculty quality, fostering global partnerships, and prioritizing academic excellence can positively impact rankings.

2022-02-15 |

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QS World University Rankings

Is QS World University Ranking reliable?

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QS World University Rankings 2024

QS World University Rankings is one of the most reputable sources of global university data. They produce a list of the top world institutions annually and they cover two different types of data, Academic Reputation and Employer Reputation. They believe that reputation is crucial because it speaks volumes to potential students who are deciding where to go for higher education as well as employers for strategic planning purposes. The QS World University Rankings are the central ranking for universities worldwide. They were created in 2003 by Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd., a British company that specializes in publishing surveys, reports, and analytics. The rankings are international university rankings of their inquiry quality, citations, research impact, and broad representation. The ranking has been running since 2004 and comprises a dedicated survey group that looks at how universities perform in the many different areas of international accreditation, knowledge sharing, research performance, and social responsibility.

Top universities are ranked in 30 different areas. It is important to note that the contest has a steep competition at the top, with just three global universities from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland being among the top 10 universities in each of their subjects according to this ranking. China and India have nine universities across subjects while the UK and US have 12. The global ranking of universities is based on five main indicators (around 700), so it's very difficult to imagine that there are no standard criteria used. QS uses a combination of surveys and empirical data from sources like R&D spending and academic journals in the field. The results are published via two complementary rankings: a list of individual countries and regions, and their faculty-level grouping. It takes into account the education of international students and staff, research impact, the number of staff awarded first-class degrees, the number of internationally mobile students, and staff turnover rate - all taken from the QS World University Rankings Annual Survey.

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The QS World University Rankings provide a quantitative and qualitative list of the world's top universities, which is derived utilizing key performance indicators gathered from the world's top-performing universities. The ranking includes 100 institutions split into 10 subject areas with some subjects varying in weight depending on their importance. To determine the top universities in the world, rankings are based on five key factors; academic reputation, employer reputation and international faculty, citations per paper, diverse scholars (international), and highly cited papers.

This table lists the top ten universities according to the QS World University Rankings 2024. To see how each university ranks overall, plus all other universities ranked by country and subject, please visit the ranking's homepage.