How can students choose the right university? This is where university rankings come in.
The OECD notes that the university ranking system has been part of the UK higher education for decades, and rejuvenated interest in ranking started to emanate with the introduction of Times Higher Education (THE) and the QS World University ranking of the world universities. The table is based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across four areas: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 include 1,799 universities across 104 countries and regions, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date. It is one of the biggest ranking systems in the world. THE world university rankings uses a system of peer review to identify the leading institutions in the eyes of the academic community, allocating 40% of the potential score to the results.
The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023 cover a total of 54 disciplines, grouped into five broad subject areas. The QS World University Rankings by Subject are compiled annually to help prospective students identify the leading universities in a particular subject. The research behind the rankings currently considers over 2,000 universities and ranks over 700. The top 400 are ranked individually, whereas those placed 401 and over are ranked in groups.
One can find academic rankings of international institutions using different methodologies. The quality of the faculty, which includes the members of an institution’s employees who have won Nobel prizes or field medals, and highly cited scholars, each receives a 20% weightage in this rating. The standard of education is given a 10% weightage. articles published in Nature and Science and articles included in the Index of Science Citations and the Social Sciences Citation Index, both of which have a 20% weightage. The institution’s per capita scholastic achievement makes up the final and fourth components.
