The Times Higher Education World University Rankings

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (also known as THE World University Rankings) are among the international university rankings. The ranking is published annually online by the British magazine Times Higher Education (THE), currently in partnership with Elsevier. The preselection for the THE rankings includes only universities with both postgraduate and undergraduate studentsArea are enrolled. Furthermore, the universities must be able to show a certain number of published journal articles in the last five years: in total they should have published at least 1000 articles in this period, and no fewer than 150 per year. As a rule, universities are not allowed to be 80 percent or more active in just one subject area. For the first time this year, 1000 universities are represented in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

THE Rankings methodology

The THE rankings use five categories with a total of 13 indicators for evaluation:

Quality of teaching: learning environment (30%)
- Survey results on the reputation of teaching among experienced scientists (15%)
- Ratio between teachers and students (4.5%)
- Ratio between doctoral degrees awarded and bachelor’s degrees (2.25%)
- Number of doctorates awarded in relation to the number of academic staff (6%)
- Relationship between the university’s budget and the number of academic staff: Provides information about the university’s facilities (2.25%)
Quality of research: scope, budget, and reputation (30%)
- Survey results on the reputation of research among experienced scientists (18%)
- Ratio between research budget and number of academic staff (6%)
- Research productivity: measured by the number of publications in academic journals per academic staff in relation to the size of the respective university (6%)
Citation frequency: Research influence based on the number of publications cited in the last five years (30%)
Business grants: knowledge transfer, measured by business grants in relation to the number of academic staff (2.5%)
Internationality: employees, students and research (7.5%)
- Ratio between international and local students (2.5%)
- Ratio between international and local employees (2.5%)
- Proportion of publications in specialist journals with larger editions and at least one international co-author in the last five years (2.5%)

On the basis of these 13 indicators, a ranking is determined for the 1000 best universities, which evaluates them as an overall institution. It is possible to sort the ranking according to individual indicators. Interested parties can also view various other statistical data from the universities.

In addition, a country-specific ranking view of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings is possible. This is particularly interesting for students who, for example, are planning a semester or bachelor’s degree abroad and have already decided on a study country.

Extract from the current THE Rankings

The top 10

1st place: University of Oxford (Great Britain)
2nd place: Stanford University (USA)
3rd place: Harvard University (USA)
4th place: California Institute of Technology (USA)
5th place: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)
6th place: University of Cambridge (Great Britain)
7th place: University of California Berkeley (USA)
8th place: Yale University (USA)
9th place: Princeton University (USA)
Rank 10: University of Chicago (USA)

Other partner universities in the ranking

Placements between 101 and 150

107th place: University of Birmingham (Great Britain)
121st place: University of Sheffield (Great Britain)
Rank 139: University of Western Australia (Australia)
Rank 147: University of Auckland (New Zealand)

Placements between 151 and 200

160th place: University of Technology Sydney (Australia)
Rank 176: Northeastern University (USA)
Rank 157: Newcastle University (Great Britain)
182nd place: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain)

Placements between 201 and 250

Griffith University (Australia)
James Cook University (Australia)
La Trobe University (Australia)
University of Otago (New Zealand)

Placements between 251 and 300

Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand)
University of California Riverside (USA)
Deakin University (Australia)
HSE University (Russia)
University of Newcastle (Australia)

Placements between 301 and 350

University of Essex (Great Britain)
Reykjavík University (Iceland)
RMIT University (Australia)
University of South Australia (Australia)

Placements between 351 and 400

Swinburne University of Technology (Australia)
University of Tasmania (Australia)
University of Victoria (Canada)

Placements between 401 and 500

Bangor University (Great Britain)
University of Canterbury (New Zealand)

Subject tables of THE Rankings

The subject tables offer a slightly more differentiated assessment than the THE overall ranking. They form ranking lists with the best 100 universities in each case, broken down into eight major subject areas:

Humanities (Arts and Humanities)
Economics (Business and Economics)
Computer science (Computer Science)
Engineering and Technology (Engineering and Technology)
Biological Sciences (Life Sciences)
Medicine (Medicine)
Physics (Physical Sciences)
Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

The indicators for the evaluation are the same as for the THE overall ranking. However, in order to be able to sufficiently take into account the characteristics of the individual disciplines, the indicators are weighted differently depending on the subject area. In addition, the number of university publications required to be included in the ranking is lower than in the overall THE ranking.

More college rankings from Times Higher Education

In addition to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Times Higher Education publishes other university rankings. This also includes the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings. The THE 150 under 50 rankings form a list of the world’s best universities that are younger than 50 years. When evaluating universities from all over the world, THE World Reputation Rankings focus on their international reputation in research and teaching.

Evaluation of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings

In contrast to the ARWU ranking and the QS ranking, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings use a wider range of indicators for assessment. However, here too, with 60% of the overall rating, the focus is on the quality of the research. The quality of the teaching determines at least 30% of the rating.

It is not the students at the respective universities who are surveyed to determine the ranking, but established scientists. It is therefore difficult to draw conclusions about the actual study situation on site based on the THE rankings.

In contrast to the ARWU ranking, humanities scholars can also view a ranking specific to the subject area in the subject tables. However, the THE rankings do not offer subject-specific rankings. A specific, subject-related assessment of the universities is therefore not possible.