5 important university rankings to help you choose a university

In the modern world, higher education plays a significant role in the lives of many people - for most it is a solid foundation that opens up brilliant career and academic prospects, it provides a useful life experienceand fills life with unforgettable experiences. However, today the supply of higher education programs is very high, which sometimes suffers from their quality. Many are faced with the problem of choosing one single university from a huge variety. One of the convenient tools to solve this problem is the international rankings of higher education programs, the leading of which are presented below.

1. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings

This rating is one of the largest information databases in the world containing information on assessing the quality of activities the best universities on the planet at the international level.In 2015-2016. The ranking includes 800 universities from 70 countries. The evaluation of universities takes place in accordance with their key missions: education, research, knowledge transfer and international activities.

In addition, the compilers of the rating are largely focused on the needs of students, therefore, when assessing the activities of universities, such criteria as the international reputation of the university, the number of students at the faculties, are taken into account.the total number of human resources, the number of foreign representatives on the campus and connections with the business. The site presents annual rankings since 2011. The system also allows you to limit the request to the desired country of study or discipline. One of the distinguishing features of the ranking is that it takes into account the advanced scientific research of each university, which allows potential students with a focus on scientific activity to choose the most suitable universities for them.

2. QS World University Ranking

Global University RankingQS is also one of the largest on the planet.In general, the criteria for ranking universities and the site interface are quite similar to the Times ranking, but there are several differences.

First, the QS rating includesranking of universities not only by country, but also more broadly - by parts of the world. Secondly, the number of disciplines for choice, for each of which a separate ranking of universities is built, is much larger, which allows future students to choose a rather narrow specialty. Third, the criteria for ranking universities have been slightly modified. These include the academic reputation of the institution, reputation among employers, student-to-faculty ratio, number of citations across a particular faculty or university, and the ratio of foreign students and faculty to local students and faculty, respectively. Every year, since 2004, a ranking has been published for more than 800 universities of the world.The QS rating is a convenient database that allows you to get a fairly objective assessment of the quality of education in the largest universities in the world.

3. Shanghai Ranking

The Shanghai Ranking of World Universities is comprehensive and objective. The user of the site has the opportunity to see either the general rating of the universities of the world, or more specialized ratings formed in specific disciplines or in the field of study. The methodology for compiling the rating consists in summing the weighted indicators of assessing the activities of each university and ranking the results from highest to lowest. Assessment indicators are the quality of education, defined as the number of graduates who have received the Nobel Prize or other medals in their scientific field;the level of qualifications of university researchers, which is measured by counting the number of eminent university employees who have major awards for academic activity, and the number of researchers whose articles have high citation ratings;research activity - the number of articles published in the journal NatureandScience and the number of articles indexed in the ScienceCitationIndex-expanded and SocialScienceCitationIndex;as well as the coefficient of academic activity per one university employee. When compiling the Shanghai ranking of the best universities in the world, as well as the Times and QS rankings, an integrated approach is used, which makes it possible to objectively assess the quality of education in the universities under consideration.

4. Forbes: America's Top Colleges

ranks only US universities by the quality of education.It includes 660 US universities and colleges, ranked by quality of education. The convenience of this ranking lies in the fact that for each university the average tuition costs are presented, as well as the total number of students, which makes it possible to assess its scale and attractiveness. To facilitate the search, you can select a specific US state, and the rating will show the universities represented in this state.

When you click on the name of the university in the list, its individual page opens, which presents information about the university in the form of numbers and facts. In addition, there is also a link to obtaining additional information about the university (“moreabout 'nameofuniversity'”), which gives a fairly comprehensive overview of such categories as information about the university, the cost of education, financial support, admission company, studentlife and sports at the university.

5. Financial Times: Global MBA Rankings

The Financial Times rating has a narrower focus than other rankings presented in this article...It takes into account exclusively business education. However, despite this, the site contains about 40 different rankings of universities, distributed either by the disciplines studied, or by regions of the world, or by type of education. Anyone has the opportunity to look at the best MBA programs in different categories, at master's programs in the specialization "Finance", at the ratings of European business schools, at professional development programs.Most of the programs presented have a traditional method of presentation, but some of them are taught online.The site, for example, has a rating of online MBA programs for 2016. Thus, the ratings of the Financial Times are a gold mine for people who already associate or want to connect their lives with the world of business in its various manifestations and, most importantly, want to beamong the best.