By Ruth A Pagell *
(27 Nov 2023) Question: Do regional rankings address some of the concerns about the current world rankings?
It is fashionable to criticize the rankings (Brink). My last set of articles, Ruth’s Ranking 56 parts 1 and 2 and RR 57, focused on changes in metrics and weightings from our standard rankings sources such as THE and QS in response to some of the criticisms. This article highlights QS’ new European rankings, and it also drills down into the Asian regional rankings.
Reranking universities by region is not unusual. The first edition of what became a joint venture between THE and QS was posted in 2004, listing the top 200 universities in the world with Harvard as number one and Praphamontripong and Levy reorganized the rankings by regions, with Oxford as number one in Europe and Beijing University at the top in Asia. Many of today’s rankings provide an option to display their world universities by region. For example, CWTS Leiden, SCImago, Webometrics, US News Global, Nature Index, and Round University Rankings (RR 47 Part 2) all provide lists of the universities in their world rankings using their regional definitions. Users who have access to Elsevier’s SciVal are able to create their own regions. SciVal has the Council of Europe as an option. Another approach, as exemplified by THE’s Sub-Saharan rankings, is to create a specialized regional ranking with a different set of universities and unique metrics.
QS has rankings by region in its World Rankings, using its World University dataset. It also deconstructs the world rankings and customizes them by region with some different metrics and weightings. The stand-alone regional rankings are more inclusive. They add universities to the regional rankings that are not in the world ranking. QS created micro-regions for Europe, Asia, and Latin America. QS stated that the regional rankings “use of specific measures appropriate to the region alongside some of the data which is also used to compile the World University Rankings. This means that these regional rankings have far more validity than a simple local version of the World Rankings would possess” (2013 QS). While “far more” might be an exaggeration, the regional rankings do provide a more targeted approach.
TABLE 1: Metrics used for Regional Rankings, compared to World and 2022 EECA
EUROPEAN RANKINGS 2024
QS promoted its European Rankings as new for 2024 with three new metrics. A European ranking is not completely new. QS published the Emerging Europe and Central Asia ranking dated from 2014 to 2022.
688 European and Western Asian universities, from countries that are part of the Council of Europe, are included in the 2024 European Rankings. The rankings are subdivided into five regions and have 12 metrics. Listed below are the regions, with the number of universities per region, the number of countries, and the number one university
- Northern Europe 166 universities; 10 countries; Oxford
- Western Europe 152 universities; 8 countries; ETH Zurich
- Southern Europe 146 universities; 12 countries; Politecnico di Milano
- Eastern Europe 133 universities; 8 countries; U Charles; Lomonosov Moscow State had been number one in the former EECA ranking
- Western Asia 91; 5 countries; Middle East Technical University, Turkey; in 2023 all but Cyprus were ranked as part of Asia
The United Kingdom has 107 universities, followed by Turkey with 72. Germany, France, and Italy have 50 or more universities. The UK has 12 universities in the European top 20, followed by Germany with three, the Netherlands and Switzerland with two, and France with one. See Appendix 58. A.
Table 58.2 lists the top 10 in the European Rankings and in the World. 17 universities are top 20s in both rankings.
TABLE 2: Europe’s top 10 in QS’ European and World Rankings
Rankings: https://www.topuniversities.com/europe-university-rankings
Supporting information: https://support.qs.com/hc/en-gb/articles/6637672827548-QS-Europe-Rankings
EECA 2022 rankings: https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/eeca-rankings/2022
OTHER REGIONAL RANKINGS
The first Asian ranking was in 2005, a joint venture with THE. The Asian region 2024 has 856 universities from 25 countries, divided into four regions. 29 countries are eligible. Five Western Asian countries, members of the European Council, are included in the European rankings. 488 Asian universities are in the QS 2024 World Rankings. Since many of Ruth’s Rankings readers are from Asia, I looked more closely at the Asian regions.
- Eastern Asia 375 universities ; 6 countries; Peking #1 overall
- Southern Asia 280 universities; 6 countries; IIT Bombay
- South-Eastern 148 universities; 9 countries; National University of Singapore (ASEAN)
- Central Asia 43 universities; 4 countries; Al-Farabi Kazak Ntl University (the “stans”)
QS’s Asian ranking includes 40 percent more universities than the World Ranking. Seven of the top 10 are the same in the Asian and World rankings as are 18 of the top 20. Seventeen of the top 20 are from the Eastern Asia micro-region. Eight of the top 10 in the 2005 ranking are the same as those in 2024. For those interested in India, Southern Asia includes 148 institutions. South-Eastern Asia can be used to compare ASEAN countries. Table 58.3. lists the top 10 in Asia and the World.
Table 58.3: Asia’s top 10 in QS’ Asian and World rankings
Rankings: https://www.topuniversities.com/asia-university-rankings
Supporting information: https://support.qs.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4403784242322-Asia-Region-Ranking
First Asian Ranking (QS-THE) https://www.universityrankings.ch/results?ranking=QS®ion=Asia&year=2005&q=
2024, the 13th edition of Latin America and the Caribbean, has 430 universities and is divided into three regions. Caribbean Universities were added to the region and the 2024 edition does not link back to earlier editions.
- South America 315 universities; 12 countries; Universidad de Säo Paulo #1 overall
- Central America 91 universities; 7 countries; Technológico de Monterrey
- The Caribbean 24 universities; 6 countries; Universidad de la Habana
Rankings: https://www.topuniversities.com/latin-america-caribbean-overall
Supporting information: https://support.qs.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4403801257490-Latin-America-and-Caribbean-Region-Ranking
Release notes: https://www.qs.com/rankings-released-qs-world-university-rankings-latin-america-and-carribbean-2024/
QS’s description of the new version: https://www.qs.com/2013-qs-university-rankings-latin-america-an-overview/
2024, the 10th edition of the Arab Region, has 223 universities from 18 countries with five from North Africa and one from Sub-Saharan Africa with no micro-regions. 22 countries are eligible for inclusion. King Faud University of Petroleum and Minerals is tops in the region and 180 in the 2024 World rankings.
Rankings: https://www.topuniversities.com/arab-region-university-ranking
Supporting information: https://support.qs.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4403452707986-Arab-Region-Ranking
QS’s description of the 2024 edition: https://www.qs.com/rankings-released-qs-world-university-rankings-arab-region-2024/
As I was completing what I thought was my last edit, THE announced the release of its latest Arab rankings, dated 2023. The methodology incorporates many of the metrics from its Sub-Saharan rankings (RR 57). It lists 313 universities and 207 are ranked. Six of the top 10 in the region are the same for QS and THE. The QS top 10 include three universities from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and one each from Qatar, Lebanon, Jordan, and Oman. THE’s Top 10 have five from UAE, four from Saudi Arabia, and one from Qatar.
CONCLUSION:
The different metrics and weightings used by QS in its regional ranking serve as examples to this criticism: “in order to compile a ranking, you need to make so many arbitrary choices between equally plausible alternatives that the result becomes meaningless” (Brink).
This is the last of four articles on changes in the rankings released in 2023. QS’s newer metrics contribute between 25 to 15 percent to the World rankings. Adding inbound and outbound students results in little-known universities rising to the top for those metrics. They do not impact their world rankings. There are advantages to the regional rankings. They add more universities that do not meet the World criteria. It makes benchmarking more relevant by using comparisons within micro-regions.
From my perspective, it appears that rankers are trying to make changes. The changes may not meet the requests of the critics, who are looking for qualitative rather than quantitative metrics.
Meaningless is too harsh a criticism. Throughout my columns, I have also criticized how the rankings are being used or misused. The top universities remain the same with most of the rankings. Users of the rankings should take time to look at some of the individual metrics that are relevant to their institutions.
This is the 10th year of Ruth’s Rankings and I will begin 2024 with a retrospective.
RESOURCES:
RR 47 Part 2 Appendix C (2 Aug 2021). RUR Round University Ranking. https://librarylearningspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Appendix-C-RUR-NEW-Clive-edit.pdf
RR 56 Part 1 (27 Jul 2023). New metrics for old rankings: THE Impact Rankings with enhanced sustainability questions. https://librarylearningspace.com/ruths-rankings-56-part-1-new-metrics-for-old-rankings-the-impact-rankings-with-enhanced-sustainability-questions/
RR 56 Part 2 (27 Sep 2023) New metrics for old rankings, covering QS, Nature, and CWTS Leiden. https://librarylearningspace.com/rr-56-part-2-new-metrics-for-old-ranking-covering-qs-nature-and-cwts-leiden/
RR 57 (30 Oct 2023). THE Ranking world and its regions, highlighting Sub-Saharan Africa.
Brink, C. (24 Oct 2023). Academic rankings: The tide begins to turn. University World News”. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20231024130858697
Praphamontripong, P. and Levy, D. (2004). World University Rankings 2004 modified from Times Higher Education Supplement 2004, World University Rankings.
Ruth’s Rankings
A list of Ruth’s Rankings and News Updates is here.
*Ruth A. Pagell is emeritus faculty librarian at Emory University. After working at Emory, she was the founding librarian of the Li Ka Shing Library at Singapore Management University and then adjunct faculty [teaching] in the Library and Information Science Program at the University of Hawaii. She has written and spoken extensively on various aspects of librarianship, including contributing articles to ACCESS – https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3238-9674
