International University Rankings Explained

There are a number of different academic rankings that are used across the world to identify the world’s leading universities. The most common academic rankings recognised in the UK are the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Rankings of World Universities and the Times Higher Education Supplement Top 200 Universities.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities is put together by researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and includes major institutions of higher education ranked according to a formula that takes into account alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (10 percent), faculty winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (20 percent), highly-cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories (20 percent), articles published in Nature and Science (20 percent), the Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (20 percent) and the size of the institution (10 percent). Due to its relatively objective methodology, the results have often been cited by The Economist magazine in ranking universities of the world. However, the Shanghai rankings have also been criticized for placing too much emphasis on the Nobel prizewinners, as opposed to the broader impact of a university's scientific output. Arguably, this also has the effect of biasing the results towards the sciences for which a Nobel Prize is awarded. There are three Nobel prizes for the sciences (chemistry, physics and medicine), one for the social sciences (economics), one for the arts (literature) and the Peace Prize. Universities with staff or alumni holding Fields medals for mathematics are also rewarded, but similar awards for achievement in the arts are not taken into account.

The Times Higher Education Supplement World’s Top Universities are produced by Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) and QS. The rankings are weighed as follows; 40% from peer review, active academics in equal numbers from North America, Asia, Europe and the rest of the world, and equally selected from arts and humanities, engineering and IT, life sciences and biomedicine, natural sciences and social sciences, were asked to name the top 30 universities in their field. This approach is aimed at pinpointing the world’s most intellectually lively universities. 10% from recruiter review responses from 736 employers who recruited internationally from top universities. 20% for number of faculty to students. 20% for the number of citations in academic journals per staff member which the institution has obtained in the last five years. The final 10% comes from the internationalization of the university – 5% numbers of international staff and 5% numbers of international students. This last area often causes the most controversy as academics argue that it shouldn’t come down to size, and smaller universities lose points as they don’t have as many international staff or students.

No rankings come without criticism; however the rise in education as an export commodity has demanded some sort of criteria to identify university academic ratings. Many universities across the world recognize the value of the Times Higher Education Supplement Worlds Top Universities and actively strive to improve rankings.

Gregor B is a writer for Degrees Ahead, an agency that helps students to do International Study at a university overseas. Each year they assist many students to study abroad in New Zealand, Australia and many other countries.