International rankings: How they are built and why they are important ~ UNIPI

The international rankings are drawn up on an annual basis by international institutes that produce global rankings and rankings by subject area.

The aim is to compare the best universities in the world on the basis of various parameters.

How they are built

Each ranking agency has its own method and gives a different weight to the factors taken into account.

The most commonly used indicators are:

Academic performance indicators (number of publications, number of citations, number of Nobel laureates among alumni, etc.);
Structural indicators (teacher/student ratio, acquired funding, number of foreign teachers/students, etc.);
Reputation indicators (opinions of the academic community, students, professional world, etc.).

The numbers

Each year, around 800 to 1,200 universities worldwide are surveyed, the best of a total of 18,000-20,000 institutions (of which around 3,000 are in the EU).

The mere fact that a university is included in the rankings, regardless of its position, means that it is among the 4 to 7 per cent of universities that represent international excellence.

The importance of rankings

As student mobility increases, international rankings are one of the factors influencing university choice, particularly for international students.

They are also a reference point for lecturers, researchers, institutions and funding bodies and have an influence on their decisions.

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International rankings: How they are built and why they are important

How they are built

The numbers

The importance of rankings