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From the information that we are provided by institutions across the globe, we rigorously build up our World University Rankings. This is how we assess data on more than 1,600 institutions to produce the tables
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings are the only global performance tables that judge research-intensive universities across all their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. We use 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons, trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments.
The performance indicators are grouped into five areas: Teaching (the learning environment); Research (volume, income and reputation); Citations (research influence); International outlook (staff, students and research); and Industry income (knowledge transfer).
The full methodology is published in the file at the bottom of this page.
Teaching (the learning environment): 30%
- 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%
The most recent Academic Reputation Survey (run annually) that underpins this category was carried out between November 2020 and February 2021. It examined the perceived prestige of institutions in teaching and research. The responses were statistically representative of the geographical and subject mix of academics globally. The 2021 data are combined with the results of the 2020 survey, giving almost 22,000 responses.
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.
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.