Ranking, Assessment and Quality of Universities
| United States of America |
| Australia |
| United Kingdom (UK) |
| Canada |
| China/ Hong Kong |
| Germany |
| International |
| Other Useful Sites and Resources |
US News and World Report
Updated annually, this site contains extensive information about colleges and universities in the United States, including selected undergraduate programs. The list is divided both by region and by category (National Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Regional Schools and Top Public Schools). Factors such as diversity, specialty schools/programs (ranked and non-ranked), and state-by-state results are ranked separately.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php
Melbourne Institute (operated by the University of Melbourne)
The Melbourne Institute conducted a quantitative survey into the international standing of Australian universities. The Institute examined a number of variables to determine the 2005 standardised ranking, including the international standing of staff, graduate programs, undergrad intake, undergrad programs, resources, and the views of Deans and CEOs.
http://melbourneinstitute.com/publications/reports/aus_uni/mainpaper.pdf
http://www.melbourneinstitute.com/publications/reports/MelbIndex.pdf
The Good Universities Guide (by Hobson Guides)
The Good Universities Guide is Australia’s premier reference book because it contains exclusive and independent 5-star ratings and rankings of Australian undergraduate degree courses and their providers. It compares these on numerous student-relevant criteria, for example: entry flexibility, student-staff ratio, educational experience and graduate employment prospects.
(The 2006 print edition is available at the Career Guidance section of the RP Library)
Australian Research Council (ARC)
The following webpage contains a table showing applications and total approved funding by organisation (inclusive of Australian universities) for Discovery Projects commencing in 2006.
http://www.arc.gov.au/funded_grants/DP06_SelectionReport.htm
The Times Good University Guide 2007
The Times of London released the latest version of its university guide early this month. The ranking by institution, as well as top 20 institutions in each subject, can be found at this website:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,716,00.html
The 2006 version is on a separate website.
http://www.thegooduniversityguide.org.uk/league.php
The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2005
Basically from the Sunday edition of the Times, it is choked full of info as well, but slightly dated compared with the rest as there is no update since the 2005 version.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,21109,00.html
The Guardian University Guide 2006
The Guardian published the 2006 (newest) edition of its University Guide on 2 May 2006. Apart from the usual league tables by institution and subject, the online version also contains selective results of the inaugural National Student Survey, held in 2005.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityguide2006/0,,1595180,00.html
The Teaching Quality Information (TQI) Website
"The Teaching Quality Information (TQI) website brings together key sources of official information about the quality of higher education in UK universities and colleges. It is part of an initiative to make more information available and accessible to applicants and their advisers. The TQI website is intended to help you compare institutions and subjects, and make a more informed choice of where to study."
The TQI website allows us to compare up to 6 institutions at a time, in terms of statistics (on entry qualifications, continuation through the course, award obtained and resulting occupation), National Student Survey results ( http://www.thestudentsurvey.com/ ), subject reports, and institution reports (general information about the quality and standards of the education provided by the institution).
http://www1.tqi.ac.uk/sites/tqi/home/index.cfm
Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2001
Results from RAE 2001 still play a part in the Times Good University Guide rankings etc. This may lead to some distortion of the rankings as the exercise was conducted 5 years ago. Incidentally, the next RAE in 2008 will be the last one, before a new system of assessment is in place.
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA)
Standards of undergraduate teaching are assessed by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), an independent body established by the UK's universities and other higher education institutions in 1997. The QAA is under contract to the Higher Education Funding Council for England to assess quality for universities in England.
http://www.qaa.ac.uk/default.asp
Maclean's Universities Ranking
This site contains the latest results of Maclean's annual study of Canadian institutions of higher education. Rankings are provided for three groups of institutions: medical-doctoral (broad range of PhD programs and focus on research), comprehensive (significant research activity and wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs), and those focusing primarily on undergraduate education. The schools are evaluated in many areas, including faculty, classes, finances, libraries, reputation, and student body. Complete rankings for each category are located within the articles about the top-ranked schools.
http://www.macleans.ca/universities/index.jsp
Netbig.com Chinese University Ranking 2005
http://rank2005.netbig.com/cn/rnk_1_0_0.htm
SINA.com Chinese University Ranking 2006
http://edu.sina.com.cn/focus/utop.html
Hong Kong Professional Education Web
This website (also in Chinese) provides information on higher education for Hong Kong students. It has its own rankings of HK and China universities, as well as collation of rankings from other sources of universities in USA, UK, Canada and Australia. Its China rankings also has breakdown into top universities for Science, Engineering, Art and Medicine.
http://www.education18.com/index_intro.htm#
DAAD University Ranking 2006
DAAD, the German Academic Exchange Service, hosts an online ranking of the universities in Germany.
http://www.daad.de/deutschland/index.en.html
The Times Higher Education Supplement - World University Ranking 2005
Published in The Times Higher Education Supplement (The Times Higher) on 28 October 2005, the World University Rankings lists the top 200 universities around the world. The scores were calculated using 6 scales: peer review (accounting for 40% of the total score), employer survey (10% of total score), research impact (measuring citations per faculty; 20% of total score), faculty/student ratio (20% of total score), percentage of international faculty (5%), and percentage of international students (5%).
http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings/
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Top 500 World Universities 2005
This site, created by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, ranks the top universities throughout the world. The rankings are based solely on academic or research performance, using five criteria: the number of Nobel laureates, highly cited researchers, articles published in Nature and Science, articles in Science Citation Index-expanded and Social Science Citation Index, and academic performance per faculty at each university.
http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005Main.htm
Newsweek Global Education Special Report
Newsweek ran a special report on global education in August 2006. The report contains the newsmagazine's very first ranking of the Top 100 Universities in the wolrd.
http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005Main.htm
Other Useful Sites and Resources
University League Tables and Rankings: A Critical Analysis
This paper provides an overview and analysis of five major university league tables including U.S. News and World Report, the Times Higher Education Supplement, Asiaweek, the Australian Good University Guide, and Maclean's. Focusing on the methodology of the different rankings, the study spans the globe in its coverage. It also discusses the usefulness, criticisms, and statistical validity of rankings and their impact on students' choices.
http://www.acu.ac.uk/chems/onlinepublications/976798333.pdf
Wikipedia entry on College and University Rankings
A balanced and informative primer on global/regional university league tables and ranking systems:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_ranking
College and University Rankings website
(by Education and Social Science Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Loads of information and links on the issue of ranking of universities:
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/rankings.htm
Edupoll
This website collates university rankings from difference sources, and other higher education related information. It also provides a database of courses offered locally by category, from diploma to doctorate level.
http://www.edupoll.org/index.shtml
Contact Singapore
Contact Singapore has a microsite providing info for local employers looking to recruit top foreign professionals from Australia, Canada, China, India, UK and USA. Subsections for each country comprise Overview, Areas of Talent, University Rankings (including top universities by discipline), and Tax Rates.
http://www.contactsingapore.org.sg/foremployers/findtopprof.shtml