The QS Global Academic Survey now stands as the largest survey of its type yet on the opinions of academics globally with a response of almost 34,000 in 2011. This phenomenal result is, in part, due to QS’ investment in survey software, survey design, effectiveness of communication and database management, but also reflects the strong awareness and interest right around the world in the QS World University Rankings® and university evaluations generally.
Faculty Area / Subject
In the early years of the QS World University Rankings®, one of the biggest challenges was attracting responses in Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences. In 2010, Social Sciences was comfortably our most responded to area, in 2011 whilst Social Sciences is still the most responded to area, the response by faculty area looks much more balanced. Respondents can identify multiple faculty areas.
| Faculty Area | % | Bar |
|---|---|---|
| Arts & Humanities | 20.8% |
.
|
| Engineering & Technology | 27.3% |
.
|
| Life Sciences & Medicine | 17.9% |
.
|
| Natural Sciences | 23.9% |
.
|
| Social Sciences & Management | 30.9% |
.
|
In the specific subject areas, we have seen a marked increase in responses across the board. These data form a key aspect of the analysis which leads to the QS World University Rankings® by Subject and this impressive increase in response bodes well for an enriched output at a subject level early next year. Here respondents are asked to identify a maximum of two subject areas with which they are most familiar.
| Subject | % | Bar |
|---|---|---|
| Physics & Astronomy | 9.3% |
.
|
| Biological Sciences | 8.3% |
.
|
| Business & Management Studies | 8.0% |
.
|
| Mathematics | 7.8% |
.
|
| Computer Science & Information Systems | 7.5% |
.
|
| Education | 6.3% |
.
|
| Medicine | 6.2% |
.
|
| Engineering – Electrical & Electronic | 6.1% |
.
|
| Chemistry | 5.4% |
.
|
| Economics & Econometrics | 5.2% |
.
|
| Engineering – Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing | 4.8% |
.
|
| History | 4.5% |
.
|
| Environmental Sciences | 3.9% |
.
|
| Politics & International Studies | 3.8% |
.
|
| Geography & Area Studies | 3.8% |
.
|
| Law | 3.6% |
.
|
| Psychology | 3.4% |
.
|
| Linguistics | 3.4% |
.
|
| Agriculture & Forestry | 3.3% |
.
|
| Other | 3.3% |
.
|
| Engineering – Civil & Structural | 3.2% |
.
|
| Accounting & Finance | 3.2% |
.
|
| Communication & Media Studies | 2.8% |
.
|
| Sociology | 2.6% |
.
|
| Engineering – General | 2.6% |
.
|
| English Language & Literature | 2.5% |
.
|
| Philosophy | 2.5% |
.
|
| Architecture / Built Environment | 2.4% |
.
|
| Engineering – Chemical | 2.3% |
.
|
| Statistics & Operational Research | 2.3% |
.
|
| Materials Science | 2.1% |
.
|
| Earth & Marine Sciences | 2.0% |
.
|
| Modern Languages | 1.9% |
.
|
| Social Studies | 1.8% |
.
|
| Art & Design | 1.6% |
.
|
| Performing Arts | 1.4% |
.
|
| Pharmacy & Pharmacology | 1.4% |
.
|
| Anthropology | 1.3% |
.
|
| Anatomy & Physiology | 1.2% |
.
|
| Library & Information Management | 1.0% |
.
|
| Theology & Religious Studies | 1.0% |
.
|
| History of Art, Architecture & Design | 0.9% |
.
|
| Nursing | 0.9% |
.
|
| Dentistry | 0.9% |
.
|
| Classics & Ancient History | 0.8% |
.
|
| Archaeology | 0.8% |
.
|
| Development Studies | 0.8% |
.
|
| Veterinary Science | 0.8% |
.
|
| Sports-related Subjects | 0.7% |
.
|
| Engineering – Mineral & Mining | 0.5% |
.
|
| Hospitality & Leisure Management | 0.4% |
.
|
| Other Studies & Professions Allied to Medicine | 0.2% |
.
|
Country / Region
The uplift in responses in 2011 have come from all quarters, certain Asian and European countries have improved, we have seen stronger responses from Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. All in all we have responses from over 140 countries and well over 100 of these have improved in response considerably in 2011. We have a mean of 226 academic responses per country and a median of 27.
| Country | % | Bar |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 10.2% |
.
|
| Brazil | 7.7% |
.
|
| United Kingdom | 7.1% |
.
|
| Italy | 5.1% |
.
|
| Australia | 4.0% |
.
|
| Germany | 3.7% |
.
|
| Canada | 3.3% |
.
|
| Japan | 2.9% |
.
|
| France | 2.9% |
.
|
| Spain | 2.7% |
.
|
| Malaysia | 2.5% |
.
|
| India | 2.2% |
.
|
| Belgium | 2.1% |
.
|
| Hong Kong | 2.0% |
.
|
| Mexico | 2.0% |
.
|
| Korea, South | 2.0% |
.
|
| Netherlands | 1.6% |
.
|
| Taiwan | 1.6% |
.
|
| New Zealand | 1.6% |
.
|
| Singapore | 1.6% |
.
|
| Ireland | 1.5% |
.
|
| Denmark | 1.3% |
.
|
| China | 1.3% |
.
|
| South Africa | 1.1% |
.
|
| Hungary | 1.1% |
.
|
| Sweden | 1.1% |
.
|
| Russia | 1.1% |
.
|
| Chile | 1.1% |
.
|
| Peru | 1.0% |
.
|
| Switzerland | 0.9% |
.
|
| Portugal | 0.9% |
.
|
| Austria | 0.9% |
.
|
| Argentina | 0.9% |
.
|
| Indonesia | 0.9% |
.
|
| Norway | 0.9% |
.
|
| Finland | 0.8% |
.
|
| Colombia | 0.8% |
.
|
| Greece | 0.8% |
.
|
| Philippines | 0.8% |
.
|
| Israel | 0.8% |
.
|
| Turkey | 0.7% |
.
|
| Poland | 0.7% |
.
|
| Romania | 0.6% |
.
|
| Thailand | 0.6% |
.
|
| Pakistan | 0.5% |
.
|
| Saudi Arabia | 0.5% |
.
|
| Czech Republic | 0.5% |
.
|
| United Arab Emirates | 0.4% |
.
|
| Kazakhstan | 0.4% |
.
|
| Nigeria | 0.4% |
.
|
| Other | 6.2% |
.
|
The region table is not based on location or nationality but on the area(s) of the world the respondent has knowledge or experience of from a research and education perspective. Respondents can identify more than one region, hence the proportions exceed 100%.
| Region | % | Bar |
|---|---|---|
| Americas | 61.7% |
.
|
| Asia, Australia & New Zealand | 47.2% |
.
|
| Europe, Middle East & Africa | 72.0% |
.
|
Job Classification / Seniority / Experience
Not only is the overall response growing significantly year on year but also the overall seniority of the respondents is increasing. This years sees an improvement of some 5.5% in respondents of an Assistant Professor level or higher.
| Job Classification | % | Bar |
|---|---|---|
| President / Vice-Chancellor | 1.9% |
.
|
| Vice-President / Deputy Vice-Chancellor | 2.4% |
.
|
| Senior Administrator | 3.7% |
.
|
| Head of Department | 11.4% |
.
|
| Professor / Associate Professor | 52.3% |
.
|
| Assistant Professor | 6.9% |
.
|
| Senior Lecturer | 4.9% |
.
|
| Lecturer | 5.6% |
.
|
| Research Specialist | 3.5% |
.
|
| Administrator / Functional Manager | 2.3% |
.
|
| Admissions Officer | 0.3% |
.
|
| Research Assistant | 1.9% |
.
|
| Teaching Assistant | 0.7% |
.
|
| Librarian / Library Assistant | 0.3% |
.
|
| Other | 1.7% |
.
|
The Years in academia table confirms the escalating seniority of our survey respondents with a 3% increase in the proportion of respondents with over 20 years of experience and, now, an average of 20.1 years.
| Years in academia | % | Bar |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 5 years | 7.9% |
.
|
| 5 – 10 years | 12.0% |
.
|
| 10 – 20 years | 28.5% |
.
|
| 20+ years | 51.6% |
.
|
[...] 2011 Academic Survey Responses [...]
[...] 2011 Academic Survey Responses [...]
[...] September 05, 2011 By: Rabia Category: Education Tomorrow sees our latest results emerge on http://www.topuniversities.com This year we have had the good fortune to attract record survey responses both of Academics and Employers. Over the 33,000 academics and over 16,000 employers have contributed their views to form this year’s response base. More detail on the survey responses is available here: Academic Survey Response [...]
Really, does no-one else find it unusual that the top ranked universities in the english-language publication are all in English-speaking countries? A biased survey will always produce biased results. Its high time this survey took into consideration its language and cultural bias if it wants to claim objectivity.
Our surveys are conducted in 12 languages. We have chosen Scopus over ISI due to its stronger coverage in languages other than English and our results are more favourable to institutions in countries where English is not the first language than almost all other comparable systems. What more do you suggest?