Refinement Chronology

Re-balanced weightings of Employer Reputation and Academic Reputation with increasing Employer Reputation component in three subjects: Mining Engineering, Hospitality and Performing Arts

Discontinuance of BRICS

Introduction of new screening policy for small institution with fewer than 5,000 total students

Adaptation of Margalef index for IRN (International Research Network) in all regional rankings except BRICS

First edition of five QS University Rankings by Location: India, Mainland China, Japan, South Korea and Mexico

First edition of 48 subjects in QS World University Rankings by Subject

Launch of QS Hub for data collection

Extension of the citation period to six years

Re-calibration of the Employer Reputation’s international/domestic weightings to 50:50

Distribution of extended fact files of QS World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings by Subject upon request to give universities a more detailed insight into performance

Modification of affiliation cap to adapt to different subject contexts – ensures no more than 0.1% of research is excluded from any discipline – applies to both subject and overall rankings

Adaptation of standardization model to lock standard deviation and mean to the top 700 for each indicator in the QS World University Rankings

Introduction of faculty area normalization for citations and paper measures

Introduction of an affiliation cap, screening out papers with more than 10 institutional affiliations from all bibliometric analysis

Extension of survey ranges to five years for academic and employer reputation, with lower weighting for the the first two years

First (pilot) edition of QS Graduate Employability Rankings

First edition of QS University Rankings: Emerging Europe & Central Asia

First edition of QS University Rankings: Arab Region

Score based on h-index added to the QS World University Rankings by Subject

Inaugural QS University Rankings – BRICS launched

QS Global Student Cities launched

QS Top 50 under 50 launched

QS World University Rankings by Subject extended to 29 disciplines

QS World University Rankings by Subject methodology improved to better highlight specialist institutions

Refined global and regional inclusion policy to require a minimum of three graduating classes in at least two faculty areas in order for operations at a new level (i.e. undergraduate/postgraduate) to be considered

Stronger country weighting applied for employer survey

Subject specific responses folded into main academic reputation analysis

Damping mechanism modified to ensure faster recognition of genuine changes in performance – particularly in outlying instances

Status component added to classifications – A: Public; B: Private not for profit; C: Private for profit

Released rankings at a discipline level (26 subjects) for the first time

Dropped World Scientific as a key channel for academic respondents

Self-citations excluded for the first time

Survey weightings refined to control outlying response levels at a country level

Academic respondents from a given institution (who cannot respond for that institution) excluded from the calculation of domestic reputation

Age metric added to QS Classifications

QS SAFE extended to embrace institutions in the top 700

Inaugural QS University Rankings – Latin America launched

QS Core launched, a new custom built system designed to help gather and manage data submissions from universities

Classifications refined for increased versatility and readability

Damping mechanism applied to eliminate swings beyond certain thresholds

Cap of 50% applied to international indicators

Scaling adjusted to reduce volatility amongst the lower ranked institutions

Invited institutions to supply lists of academics to augment the academic survey

Established International Advisory Board

QS Classifications released for the first time using alpha-numeric notation to group institutions by size, focus and research intensity

Switched to Qualtrics for survey delivery, implemented AJAX “type to search” questions

Implemented Academic Sign-up Facility to invite academics to volunteer to participate in Academic Survey

Inaugural QS Asian University Rankings published

QS SAFE – National System Strength Analysis released for the first time

Domestic and international responses separated in survey analysis

Switch to Scopus from Thomson’s Essential Science Indicators for publication and citation data. Broader journal coverage means more institutions than ever are reflected in our citations analysis

Survey respondents are prevented from responding on behalf of their own institution

Definitions are standardized to require Full Time Equivalent (FTE/EFTS) data for all faculty and student submissions

Indicators are normalized for the first time to ensure fair and consistent application of weightings

Individual fact files are distributed for the first time, giving institutions advanced warning of the news to come

Invited institutions to supply lists of employers for us to be included in the Employer Survey

Employer Reputation is added in 2005. The weighting on Academic Reputation is dropped from 50% to 40% to make way for the new indicator

Introduced Mardev as a key source of Academic Responses

QS World University Rankings launch in October 2004