Or 2%. Or 5% or whatever seems appropriate Amongst the coverage of today’s QS World University Rankings was a fascinating piece on the BBC. — http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40187452. Amongst many universities, the University of Reading have been claiming status as a “world’s top 1%” university, and this claim has been challenged via a complaint made to the […]
With the next edition of QS World University Rankings coming out next week, and fact files distributed to all featured institutions, it seems the moment to talk about one peripheral detail that may have escaped some of our followers. We have reconfigured our annual rankings cycle, moving things around on the calendar with a view […]
Anyone who has seen me present will know that one of my most frequently used quotes is from the US statistician, George Box, said, “Essentially all models are wrong, but some are useful”. Rankings are controversial as much because they are imperfect, incomplete as anything else. Were there a perfect answer, and had someone found […]
From a certain perspective, the work we do at a discipline level ought to be easy. After all, we don’t seek data directly from institutions to compile our rankings by subject which removes a major data collection and validation overhead. However, the scale of the output, in our terms is vast. Our main ranking aggregates performance […]
In 2013 we have added 106 new universities to the QS World University Rankings®. Indeed since we have also extended the number of monitored universities which do not qualify for an overall ranking (i.e. specialist subject and graduate schools), the total number added to the study is over 130. This is nothing new, indeed as our […]
In my capacity as the leader of one of the world’s most recognized league tables of universities I have had the good fortune to meet a great many Vice-Chancellors, President’s, Rectors, Provosts and Principals. In most cases this is a privilege, typically these individuals have had glittering academic careers and have achieved genuine scientific or […]
In the QS World University Rankings®, the position of Sultan Qaboos University has dropped from 377 in 2011 to 401-450 in 2012 and now to 501-550 in 2013. The university have contacted us requesting a statement as to the reasons for this and whether or not this reflects a genuine deterioration in performance for the […]
Another FAQ we’ve been receiving since the new Fact Files were distributed relates to the planned publishing ranges. In previous year’s we have published the indicator list down to 300, with any falling outside this range carrying a 301+. With more institutions than ever involved this year, we have taken the step to provide further […]
So our fact files for the QS World University Rankings® 2013/2014 went out last week. We’ve been trying to improve our distribution lists, but may not have got all the way there, so if you haven;t received your results for this year and you need them, please do get in touch. The questions have started […]
Benjamin Disraeli once said, “How much easier it is to be critical, than to be correct” and the recent interchange QS has enjoyed with one of its foremost critics in the pages of The Australian brings forth an idea. Not an idea that I would expect to see-through but an idea that represents an interesting framework […]
