QS World University Rankings: Methodology
QS World University Rankings: University rankings have become one of the most important elements for students deciding on universities for studying abroad or anywhere in India. Rankings not only help differentiate the best universities from the surplus but also provides students access to additional information and in-depth university analysis through the use of ranking parameters and indicators.
Launched in 2004, the QS University Rankings has grown to become one of the most influential university rankings in the world. One of the most trusted university rankings, the group publishes a set of top university rankings every year for the benefit of students. We are going to break down the QS University Ranking methodology for the readers to fully comprehend how one university scores over another and what it takes to be the university on the top. We are going to look at the very popular QS University Rankings methodology and know about the parameters used in the process.
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QS World University Rankings – Methodology Parameters
As the name suggests, the QS World University Rankings talk about the top universities in the world for a given year and is one of the most searched online. At QS World University Ranking, six simple metrics are taken into account that effectively capture university performances and a list of top-performing universities in the world are derived for a particular year. Universities are evaluated on the following given parameters:
| Parameters |
Weightage |
|---|---|
| Academic Reputation |
40% |
| Employer Reputation |
10% |
| Faculty/Student Ratio |
20% |
| Citations per faculty |
20% |
| International Faculty Ratio /International Student Ratio |
10% |
Let us study each parameter closely.
Academic Reputation
The highest weightage to determine the best university in the world is allocated to the academic reputation of the university. In doing so, QS University Rankings takes into account the expert opinion of over 100,000 individuals who belong in the higher education space and are involved with teaching and research quality at the world universities.
Employer Reputation
University education has always boiled down to the effectiveness of being eligible for the job market. Hence, employment reputation looks at how successful a university is in providing this preparedness to the student for the employment market. The data for the employment reputation is collated based on almost 50,000 responses to the QS Employer Survey conducted by QS University Rankings. The QS Employer Survey asks employees to identify institutions from which they source the most capable, effective, and innovative graduates.
Faculty/Student Ratio
For students, the teaching quality is one of the most important determinants while choosing universities. Though it is extremely difficult to measure the same, however, QS University Rankings, believes that outlining the Faculty/Student Ratio provides an alternative to measuring teaching quality. This particular parameter takes into account the number of tutors or teaching professionals the institution is able to provide to students, as a higher number of faculty members per student would greatly unburden each individual academic.
Citations per Faculty
If teaching is important to establish university credentials so is research output. At QS University Rankings, university research quality is measured using the Citations per Faculty metric. The process includes taking the total number of citations received by all papers produced by a university across a five-year period by the number of faculty members at that institution.
International Faculty Ratio /International Student Ratio
A highly recommended university comes with advantages, above all, it demonstrates the ability to attract international students and faculty from across the world, which suggests the strong international reputation the university enjoys. This particular parameter takes into account the global outlook that is essential for a university operating in the global education sector. Other factors that are calculated here are providing students with a multinational environment, exchange of best practices, and bringing about global awareness. The International Faculty Ratio and the International Student Ratio contribute to 5% each to the total weightage of the QS World University Ranking.
This is a very modest understanding of the methodology of the QS University Rankings for our readers for top universities. Students who are looking for an in-depth analysis can always refer to the official website or get in touch with us in the comments below for further guidance.
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