Methodology: Performance Lenses and Weightings 2024

Indicator Description Weight

Academic Taken from the annual QS Academic Reputation Survey, designed to evaluate the
Reputation perceptions of global academics on which institutions are demonstrating academic 30%
excellence.

Citations per Faculty This ratio measures the average number of citations obtained per faculty member, and is
an estimate of the impact and quality of the scientific work produced by universities. This 20% METHODOLOGY
indicator is calculated using data from Scopus. Performances Lenses & Weightings
Employer Taken from the annual QS Employer Reputation Survey, designed to evaluate the
Reputation perceptions of global employers on which institutions are providing the most job-ready 15% QS Ranking 2023 QS Ranking 2024
graduates.

Employment This indicator has been crafted to reflect the ability of institutions to ensure a high level of Academic Reputation 40%
Outcomes employability for their graduates, while also nurturing future leaders who go on to make 5% Research 30% 10%
an impact in their respective fields. and Discovery
Citations per Faculty 20% 0%
Faculty Student This is the ratio between the number of academic staff and number of students. A higher 20%
Ratio number of academics per student reflects the resource commitment of the institution to 10% 10%
its teaching and learning mission. Employer Reputation 5%
Employability 15%
The International Faculty Ratio is the proportion of faculty members who are and Outcomes
international. It is a proxy measure for how internationally attractive the university is to Employment Outcomes 0%
International Faculty 5% New
academic staff, and a sign that through their reputation and quality they are able to attract
those staff tween the number of academic staff and number of students. A higher number
5%
Learning 20%
of academics per student reflects the resource commitment of the institution to its Faculty Student Ratio
Experience 10% 10%
teaching and learning mission.
International This indicator assesses the richness and diversity of an institution’s international research International Faculty 5%
5% 0%
Research Network partnerships. Collaborative research has benefits not only in terms of overall research 5%
quality and transparency, but in helping to solve the most pressing global challenges. Global
International Research Network 0%
Engagement 5% New
International The International Students Ratio is the proportion of students who are international. It is a
Students proxy measure for how internationally attractive the university is to students, as well as 5%
the on-campus diversity that those students will benefit from. International Students 5%
5% 0%
The score for this component is taken from the analysis of the standalone QS
Sustainability Sustainability Ranking. It evaluates the social and environmental impact of universities as
centers of education and research. This is a vital step towards supporting universities on
5% Sustainability Sustainability 0%
5%
New

their journeys towards a more sustainable future.

 Methodology: Performance Lenses and Weightings 2022
Indicator
Teaching (the learning environment)
Reputation survey: 15%
Staff-to-student ratio: 4.5%
Doctorate-to-bachelor’s ratio: 2.25%
Doctorates-awarded-to-academic-staff ratio: 6%
Institutional income: 2.25%
Research (volume, income and reputation):
Reputation survey: 18%
Research income: 6%
Research productivity: 6%
Citations (research influence):
International outlook (staff, students,
research):
Proportion of international students: 2.5%
Proportion of international staff: 2.5%
International collaboration: 2.5%
Industry income (knowledge transfer
Calculation Method Weight
As well as giving a sense of how committed an institution is to nurturing the next generation of academics, a high proportion of
postgraduate research students also suggests the provision of teaching at the highest level that is thus attractive to graduates
and effective at developing them. This indicator is normalised to take account of a university’s unique subject mix, reflecting
that the volume of doctoral awards varies by discipline. 30%
Institutional income is scaled against academic staff numbers and normalised for purchasing-power parity (PPP). It indicates an
institution’s general status and gives a broad sense of the infrastructure and facilities available to students and staff.
Research income is scaled against academic staff numbers and adjusted for purchasing-power parity (PPP). This is a
controversial indicator because it can be influenced by national policy and economic circumstances. But income is crucial to the
development of world-class research, and because much of it is subject to competition and judged by peer review, our experts
suggested that it was a valid measure. This indicator is fully normalised to take account of each university’s distinct subject
profile, reflecting the fact that research grants in science subjects are often bigger than those awarded for the highest-quality
social science, arts and humanities research.
30%
To measure productivity we count the number of publications published in the academic journals indexed by Elsevier’s Scopus
database per scholar, scaled for institutional size and normalised for subject. This gives a sense of the university’s ability to get
papers published in quality peer-reviewed journals. From the 2018 rankings, we devised a method to give credit for papers that
are published in subjects where a university declares no staff.
The citations help to show us how much each university is contributing to the sum of human knowledge: they tell us whose
research has stood out, has been picked up and built on by other scholars and, most importantly, has been shared around the
global scholarly community to expand the boundaries of our understanding, irrespective of discipline.
30%
The data are normalised to reflect variations in citation volume between different subject areas. This means that institutions
with high levels of research activity in subjects with traditionally high citation counts do not gain an unfair advantage.
The ability of a university to attract undergraduates, postgraduates and faculty from all over the planet is key to its success on
the world stage.
In the third international indicator, we calculate the proportion of a university’s total relevant publications that have at least
one international co-author and reward higher volumes. This indicator is normalised to account for a university’s subject mix
7.5%
and uses the same five-year window as the “Citations: research influence” category.
A university’s ability to help industry with innovations, inventions and consultancy has become a core mission of the
contemporary global academy. This category seeks to capture such knowledge-transfer activity by looking at how much
research income an institution earns from industry (adjusted for PPP), scaled against the number of academic staff it employs.
The category suggests the extent to which businesses are willing to pay for research and a university’s ability to attract funding
2.5%
in the commercial marketplace – useful indicators of institutional quality.