With ATAR’s nearly coming out, offers to come out in mid-December to February, you will have chances to change preferences.
Some will say put a higher ranking uni up, since you have the ATAR!…STOP here...Often, you’ll see marketing and website material say, “First in nursing”, “Top 10 university in Australia”. Universities sometimes communicate why you as a student should go to that university (and how “well” it does), through rankings.
Before you say.. choose uni x over uni y,
due to rankings,
consider the
ranking methodology and the
age of the university, with it's influence on rankings!
Ages of Universities-
Traditionally, universities that are older do rank higher in the rankings. Look at the table of rankings of older vs newer universities
VSDifferent ranking organisations and their methods *For time sake, I will use the biggest organisations*
-
The Times – Higher education World University RankingsSurveys and data are collected on different aspects listed below (Extremely simplified). This data is then weighed, to produce a score for ranking
Industry Income – 2.8%
International Outlook – 7.5%
Citations – 30%
Research – 30%
Teaching – 30%
Read more here >>
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/advice/world-university-rankings-explained-
QS – World Rankings Surveys and data are collected on different aspects listed below (Extremely simplified). This data is then weighed, to produce a score for ranking
Academic reputation - 40%
Employer reputation - 10%
Faculty/Student Ratio - 20%
Citations per faculty - 20%
International faculty ratio/International student ratio (5% each)
Read more here >>
https://www.topuniversities.com/qs-world-university-rankings/methodology-
Shang Hai Rankings - Academic Ranking of World UniversitiesUniversities are ranked by several indicators of academic or research performance, including alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals
Quality of Education – 10%
Quality of Faculty – 40%
Research Output – 40%
Per capita Performance – 10%
Read more >>
http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU-Methodology-2018.htmlHow rankings differ for different universities?Here are the latest rankings for some universities (lower is better)..
Clearly the “best” university is ANU if you followed the QS rankings OR Melbourne Uni if you looked at the Times and ShangHai rankings.
Why rankings change year in, year out?- As per the methods mentioned at the top…
Management may change, due to budget cuts. Faculty/student ratios can change, meaning students get less support.
A university may produce less citations in a year or have fewer international students (this can be partially affected by politics and government policy).
If you ever see a graph like this, they usually do not hold much significance.
What about smaller universities?- Smaller universities are clearly disadvantaged by the global rankings.
- By default, smaller universities suffer from having less “reputation” and recognition amongst organisations, academics and world audiences. A university like Monash will be more well known in Spain and the USA, than Notre Dam or Victoria Uni.
What isn’t measured by these rankings?- Student support
- Scholarships and leadership opportunities
- Atmosphere for learning
- Social at universities
- Easy of travel to universities
Final takeaways and tips1. Rankings are not the be all, end all. They are simply just arbitrary rankings, produced by formulas and criteria. A university may rank higher in one ranking, than another!
2.
Go to the university that best suits you!!!!!
3. Speak to other students and see what you can find out. Sometimes you may find out things that won’t be known just by reading rankings!
4. Rankings cannot incorporate or measure some things effectively!
5.
Rankings calculations are complex and methodologies are NOT uniform, resulting in different results that can be difficult to understand.6.
Differences in year to year rankings are not important in the general grand scheme of things.