THE World University Rankings 2024 | Must-know for Students

• Publisher: THE Times Higher Education, UK, United Kingdom
• Latest ranking publication date: 27 September, 2023
• Publication frequency: Annual
• Geographic focus: Global
• Ranking type: University rankings.
• Year of first publication: 2011
• 1904 universities in ranking

The sought-after new methodology THE began to use in 2009 has been tweaked somewhat over the years, but it still has the same general outline. Data for eighteen criteria is gathered to rate institutions according to the following five main areas:

Teaching quality is rated partly according to the academic reputation survey (15%), while the remaining criteria used to decide if a university has a high level of quality teachers include the institutional income (2.5%) and three ratios:

• staff : student (4.5%)
• bachelor degrees awarded : graduate degrees awarded (2%)
• doctorates awarded : academic staff (5.5%)

An institution’s International Outlook is rated according to the percentage of international students (2.5%), percentage of international staff (2.5%) and international collaborations (2.5%).

In terms of Industry, what is being evaluated is the institution’s ability to influence or help industry. This metric considers industry income (2%) and patents (2%).

An institution’s Research Environment is gauged considering three criteria: reputation survey (18%), research income (5.5%) and research productivity (5.5%).

Research Quality (citations etc) is evaluated considering: citation impact (15%); research strength (5%); research excellence (5%) and research influence (5%). With research quality holding a hefty 30% weight and research environment 29%, 59% of the total score for this ranking is related to research, so, in theory, an institution with a strong focus on research will automatically be more likely to appear higher up in the rankings. Information collected from surveys is responsible for about a third (33%) of the total scores.

Types of Data Collected Directly by the Publisher

THE Academic Reputation Survey

External databases/data providers used

Elsevier’s Scopus database

Criteria for including/excluding universities

Criteria for exclusion: -no undergraduate programs -research output less than 1,000 relevant publications from 2015 to 2019 (min 150/year) -80% or more of research output is in only one of the THE 11 subject areas

Criteria Classification

• 82.25% Academic Performance
• 17.75% Teaching/Internationalisation/Student Outcome

• Research publications and citations
• Academic reputation - survey or other
• Student Survey
• Internationalization (% of foreign staff/students/exchange)
• Employer reputation survey or Salary data

Methodology

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/world-university-rankings-2024-methodology

Rating

4.0 / 5.0

Popularity

Google results for: Times Higher Education "World University Rankings": 3390000

PROS

-almost 2000 universities ranked -includes unis from 100+ countries/regions around the world

CONS

-no student satisfaction data -33% survey based

Practical use

The THE World University Ranking is one of the most well known of all the rankings, so you can be sure that any potential employer is going to have skimmed through it prior to hiring recent graduates. For students and parents alike, employability is an important consideration, so the THE ranking is a great reference for all. However, it is really important to keep in mind that the ranking doesn’t take into account any data directly related to student experience and, since the time spent at a university is significant, it is worthwhile to spend some extra energy in researching how graduates feel about their years at the institution before making your final decision.**

Criticism

The THE rankings are among the most influential of all the rankings worldwide and as such they have attracted a lot of attention, both positive and negative. On the positive side is the level of influence that these rankings have had in the past 20 years on the international status of many universities. THE has come under fire for the importance it gives to citations in its methodology and for other issues which are considered to put non-English speaking institutions at a disadvantage. There have also been complaints that it is too easy for institutions to submit falsified data to THE, misrepresenting their institution and possibly manipulating their position in the rankings.

Also, while this well-known ranking does not include any data related to student satisfaction, a third of the total score for each institution is based on subjective data received via THE’s yearly survey sent to academics around the world. So this subjective data comes from professors and administrators, not from those on the receiving end of their educational output, i.e. the students.