International factors
A detailed description of how the two international factors are calculated for the Times HIgher - QS World University Rankings
International reputation is an undeniable component of today's world class universities. How better to evaluate that than to assess the proportion of international students and faculty who are attracted to that institution. Representing 5% each in this evaluation, the international students score and international faculty score are calculated based on those proportions.
In the first year of the THE - QS World University Rankings, an independent study was done of the results, which concluded that the "International Students" indicator was the only one negatively correlated with the overall performance of an institution and recommended its withdrawal.
It, and the "International Faculty" indicator are included largely because this is a WORLD university ranking and set forth to track performance of institutions worldwide against indicators that are, like it or not, prerequisite to being heralded as a world class university. There is no longer a negative correlation between either of these indicators and the overall performance.
The international migration of students and faculty is a major trend in higher education and is inevitably driven both by the march of globalisation and the pursuit of alternative higher education revenue streams by universities and governments. It cannot be ignored or denied.
At present this trend is recognised in this evaluation simply by the proportion of full time registered students and faculty that hold an overseas nationality - as these statistics are relatively easy to collect. Various other measures, such as exchange student numbers are being collected and compiled and may be included in the future.
Frequently Asked Questions: International Factors
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How is ‘Number of international graduate/postgraduate students’ defined?
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It refers to the number of graduate / postgraduate students who are foreign nationals. The term ‘international’ is hereby determined by citizenship. For EU countries, this includes all foreign nationals, even nationals of other EU states. In Hong Kong, this includes students from Mainland China.
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How is ‘Number of graduate/postgraduate students’ defined?
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It is the number of students pursuing a higher-level degree (Master and Doctorate), including both taught and research postgraduates (e.g. PhD students)
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How is ‘Number of international undergraduate students’ defined?
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It is the number of undergraduate students who are foreign nationals. The term ‘international’ is hereby determined by citizenship. For EU countries, this includes all foreign nationals, even nationals of other EU states. In Hong Kong, this includes students from Mainland China. Please exclude all exchange students.
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How is ‘Number of undergraduate students’ defined?
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The number of undergraduate students refers to all students pursuing a Bachelor’s level or equivalent degree. This excludes certificates/diplomas and associate’s degrees.
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How is ‘Number of international faculty staff’ defined?
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It is the number of academic faculty staff who are of foreign nationality. The term ‘international’ is hereby determined by citizenship. For EU countries, this includes all foreign nationals, even if from another EU state. In Hong Kong, this includes professors from Mainland China. Inclusion and exclusion mirrors those for academic faculty staff.
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How is ‘Number of academic faculty staff’ defined?
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The number of academic staff is the total number of academic faculty staff who are responsible for planning, directing and undertaking teaching only, research only or both teaching and research. Please include: vice-chancellors, deputy vice-chancellors, principals, professors, heads of school, associate professors, principal lectures and tutors. Please exclude research assistants, PhD students who contribute to teaching, and exchange scholars or visiting professors who are members of another university.
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Is there a cap on the proportion of international students and faculty?
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No.
The argument for applying a cap is largely that beyond a certain level, high numbers of international students are unlikely to be a positive measure of international reputation but more a negative indication of their domestic reputation. This may be true, but since the THE - QS World University Rankings shortlist the world's leading universities at the outset this doesn't appear to be the case. With a few notable exceptions, insttutions in the study rarely exceed 30%.
Category: Methodology: International Factorsxx
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What is the definition of research assistant that is utilized by QS?
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The important distinction for us is that staff counted as ‘research only’ should be academically involved in that research and should be likely to publish research outputs.
A research assistant, in our understanding, is any individual who is not doing own research and is therefore not likely to publish own research outputs. Said individual is (only) involved in research in terms of operation execution , such as lab technician or equipment operator.Category: Methodology: Student Faculty Ratio, Methodology: Citations, Methodology: International Factorsxx
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What is Full Time Equivalent (FTE)?
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Full –Time Equivalent (FTE) is the total number of full-time entity it would take to meet the commitments currently met by both the full-time entity and the part-time entity. If there is no part-time entity, then FTE figure is equal to the headcount figure. (Entity in this case refers to either academic staffs or students).
Category: Methodology: Student Faculty Ratio, Methodology: Citations, Methodology: International Factorsxx
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Why do we need Full Time Equivalent (FTE) figures?
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The purpose of using Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) is to counter any bias universities that either have a very high or very low number of part-time students or staff.
Universities around the world have slightly different interpretations of what FTE means, but all of them are providing calculations or educated estimates that make more sense than purely using a headcount number.
As a verification guideline, we would generally expect the FTE figure to sit somewhere between the full-time headcount and the total headcount. FTE figures which are utilized to compile the rankings.
Category: Methodology: Student Faculty Ratio, Methodology: Citations, Methodology: International Factorsxx
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How are Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) figures calculated?
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Figures/ headcounts calculated here are based on a full academic year.
The following is the formula for FTE used by QS:
FTE Estimate = Full-Time Headcount + 1/3 of Part-Time Headcount
Headcount is basically the number of heads.
To visualize the example:
No. of Full-time students: 10,000 headcounts
No. of Part-time students: 4,000 headcounts
No. of Full-Time Academic Staff: 5,000 headcounts
No. of Part-Time Academic Staff: 0 headcounts
Results:
FTE for Students = 10,000 + (1/3 of 4000) = 11333.33
FTE for Academic Staff = 5,000
Please note that a student can be represented more than once as an FTE.
If a student is taking a full-time program and a part-time program, he/she will be counted into the Full-Time Headcount AND Part-Time Headcount.
Category: Methodology: Student Faculty Ratio, Methodology: Citations, Methodology: International Factorsxx
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