Date: 10/27/2008
TUMSPR News: Times Higher Education, an international institute to publish World University Rankings, has announced the first Top 200 universities of the world. The announcement has been based on the report published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) on October 9, 2008.
THES/QS World University Rankings is an annual publication of university rankings around the world, published by The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) and Quacquarelli Symonds (*QS)[1]. Based on the report published by QS, Tehran University which is in a joint academic agreement with Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) has ranked 485 this year [2]
In the 21st century global rankings are beginning to assume greater importance than domestic comparisons and governments all around the world have expressed an ambition to have at least one university among the international elite.
How such rankings should be constructed remains a matter of constant debate. The Higher Education Funding Council for England was the latest official body to commission a review. Its report, published in April and covering both national and global rankings, concluded that globalization was sure to see greater significance attached to international comparisons in future.
This year’s World University Rankings is based on a record number of responses from academics and employers, as well as on thoroughly-researched data on citations, staffing levels and the proportions of international faculty and students. More than 6,000 academics ventured an opinion on the leading universities in their own discipline. The results were weighted to ensure a fair representation both geographically and by subject grouping.
Nunzio Quacquarelli, the Managing Director of QS, said: “From the start, we have been committed to improving the rankings year on year. I am convinced that these will prove invaluable to the growing number of people who need to compare universities in different countries, but we will not stop there. We are already talking to stakeholders about further improvements in the future.”
As THE/QS puts it since the announcement of the positions, there have been numerous conferences on the subject of rankings, often comparing the THE/QS version with those produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the benchmarking techniques of Germany’s Centre for Higher Education (CHE) Development. All have their strengths: the largely historical, science-based nature of the Shanghai rankings is evident in their near-static nature, while the CHE operation produces a wealth of information without committing to a final ranking.
This present rankings will undoubtedly increase the determination of some Middle Eastern and Latin American countries to make their mark. The Organization of the Islamic Conference, for example, has set itself the target of getting at least one university into the world’s top 200.
Global higher education rankings are still in their infancy, with a limited range of indicators at their disposal, but the appetite for them is not in doubt [2].
QS World University Rankings have been formed to present a multi-factorial view of the relative strengths of the world's leading universities. The overall rankings are calculated based on six indicators and weightings are decided upon by Times Higher Education based on the importance of the measured criteria balanced against the effectiveness of the indicator.
Indicator
Weighting
Academic Peer Review
40%
Employer Review
10%
Faculty Student Ratio
20%
Citations per Faculty
20%
International Faculty
5%
International Students
5%
TUMS’ Chancellor, Dr. Larijani, had previously anticipated Tehran University and Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) might rank below 500 this year.
* Quacquarelli Symonds is the leading global career and education network
References:
1. THES - QS World University Rankings. [cited; Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THES_-_QS_World_University_Rankings.1.
2. 401 t0 500 [cited; Available from: http://www.topuniversities.com/university_rankings/results/2008/overall_rankings/fullrankings/.
3. QS World University Rankings Preview. [cited; Available from: http://www.topuniversities.com/index.php?id=1223&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2049&cHash=8d8d4906d6.
http://publicrelations.tums.ac.ir/english/news/detail.asp?newsID=9251
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