Background/Methodology

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Why were the Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings started?

In a nutshell, these rankings were initiated to recognise universities as the multi-faceted organisations they are. This exercise attempts to take a more holistic view than othr global evaluations. You can read more on http://www.topuniversities.com.dev.quaqs.com/worlduniversityrankings/methodology/purpose_amp_approach/

Category: Methodology: General

Until when are applications for participation in the THE–QS World University Rankings accepted?

The interested university needs to submit all necessary information to us by the end of March each year.

 

Category: Methodology: General

What does QS stand for?

Q stands for Quacquarelli and S stands for Symonds.

QS was founded in 1990 by Wharton MBA, Nunzio Quacquarelli with offices in London and the US. Fellow director Matt Symonds and the Paris team joined in 1994. Today, QS operates globally from offices in: London, Paris, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney and Washington DC.

The company is an independent organization in the education industry that seeks to provide research and related services to institutions and individuals who may benefit from them. The company undertakes primary research, publishes career guides, operates a number of websites, stages education and careers fairs, seminars and forums.

Today, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has become established as the world’s leading network for top careers and education. It links graduate, MBA and executive communities around the world with recruiters and education providers, both physical and virtual. The mission is to enable motivated people around the world to fulfil their potential by fostering international mobility, educational achievement and career development.

 

Category: Methodology: General

What are the conditions to create a university profile on topuniversities.com?

Getting a basic profile on www.topuniversities.com is free for all universities. The interested institution may send us an email to rankings@qsnetwork.com, indicating the university’s name, exact address, switchboard number and general email address as well as an appointed person’s name, her/his position, department, address and contact information like email and telephone. This person will be responsible for providing us with the required information and therefore receives a login account that allows access to our online system in order to key in information about the institution.

 

Category: Methodology: General

What are the conditions to create a university profile on topuniversities.com?

Getting a basic profile on www.topuniversities.com is free for all universities. The interested university may send us an email to rankings@qsnetwork.com, indicating the university’s name, exact address, switchboard number and general email address as well as an appointed person’s name, her/his position, department, address and contact information like email and telephone. A login account will be issued to this person-in-charge and she/he may start to key in information about the institution.

 

Category: Methodology: General

Is the list of institutions definite?

No. We invite new institutions to make a case to us for inclusion, usually based on domestic rankings or other measures that portray their institution in a positive light relative to other institutions already included in our list. We will also examine the survey response rates and if there are institutions receiving absolutely no responses, we will consider removing them.

But, in order to make the user interface manageable, we do restrict the exercise to a finite list of institutions.

Category: Methodology: General

How are average tuition fees calculated?

Tuition fees is one type of charge a student has to face in higher education. Tuition fees help to pay for the cost of running a higher education institution, such as salaries for teaching staff or maintaining buildings. There are various ways of calculating the average tuition fees, like: calculation of mean by program, calculation of mean by student, calculation of median and calculation of mode. For example: 

a university offers 8 programs with yearly fees of:

MA1 3200, MA2 3200  MA3 3200, MBA 11300, MA4 4300, MA5 4800, MA6 3700, MA7 8200

Mean by student

Multiply the fee level by the number of students paying this fee level and then divide by the total number of students.

Mean by program (do remove extreme outliers)

Add up all yearly fees for each program offered and divide the sum by the number of programs. Should you offer particular programs with an exceptionally high fee, please exclude them from your calculation. This mainly applies to certain medical, law or business programs.

Referring to the example this means: 3200+3200+3200+4300+4800+3700+8200 = 30600

30600 /7 = 4371 

The mean by program is: 4371

Median

The median indicates the centre of the distribution and is preferable in a distribution with outliers. Following the example above it would mean:

Distribution: 3200 to 11300

All values in order: 3200+3200+3200+3700+4300+4800+8200+11300

3700+4300=8000/2=4000

The median is: 4000

Mode

The mode is the value that appears the most. In our example this would be: 3200

3200 3200 3200 3700 4300 4800 8200 11300

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category: Methodology: General