College and university rankings
In higher education, college and university
rankings are listings of universities and lib-
eral arts colleges in an order determined by
any combination of factors. Rankings can be
based on subjectively perceived "quality," on
some combination of empirical statistics, or
on surveys of educators, scholars, students,
prospective students, or others. Rankings are
often consulted by prospective students and
their parents in the university and college ad-
missions process.
In addition to rankings of institutions,
there are also rankings of specific academic
programs, departments, and schools. Rank-
ings are conducted by magazines and news-
papers and in some instances by academic
practitioners. (See, for example, law school
rankings in the United States.)
Rankings may vary significantly
from
country to country. Colleges outside of the
English speaking world are believed to have
a distinct disadvantage. A Cornell University
study found that the rankings in the United
States significantly affected colleges’ applica-
tions and admissions[1]. In the United King-
dom, several newspapers publish
league
tables which rank universities.
International rankings
from regional
organizations
Several regional organizations provide world-
wide rankings, including:
The Times Higher Education -
QS World University Rankings
Times Higher Education, a British publication
that reports specifically on issues related to
higher
education,
in
association with
Quacquarelli Symonds, annually publishes
the THES - QS World University Rankings, a
list of 500 ranked universities from around
the world.[2] In comparison with other rank-
ings, many more non-American universities
(especially British) populate the upper tier of
the THES ranking.[3] The THES - QS ranking
faces criticism due to the more subjective
nature of its assessment criteria, which are
largely based on a ’peer review’ system of
over 3000 scholars and academics in various
fields.[4]
Academic Ranking of World
Universities
Average positions from 3 Internat