World University Rankings

Founded in the 90s, QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) is a British company specializing in education and international study programs. Some of the performance indicators they use to benchmark universities are research quality, graduate employability, careers service support, teaching quality, infrastructure (such as sports facilities and medical care), student societies and accommodation, IT and libraries, international appeal, innovation and knowledge transfer, and community involvement. These performance indicators should give prospective students a balanced and holistic view of a university’s competitive edge.

Times Higher Education, a London based educational publication, uses 13 performance indicators grouped into five areas to rank universities. These five areas are teaching (worth 30%), research (the volume, income and reputation, worth another 30%), citations (the institution’s influence on research, also worth 30%), industry income and innovation (2.5%), and international outlook of staff, students and research (7.5%). It is important to note that universities are excluded from the Times Higher Education World University Rankings if they do not teach undergraduates; if they teach only a single narrow subject; or if their research output amounted to fewer than 200 a year.