The Online Result University Meta Ranking is the ultimate tool for evaluating a university's standing among the world’s elite institutions. This guide details our methodology, showing you exactly how we calculate rankings to help you make an informed decision for your study abroad journey.
What is the Online Result University Meta Ranking
The Online Result University Meta Ranking provides a comprehensive view of how a specific institution compares to other higher education providers on the global stage.
Our Meta Ranking is represented as a percentile. A lower percentage indicates a higher ranking. For instance, if your target university ranks among the top 5% of institutions globally, you will see a '5%' label, signaling its elite status.
To ensure accuracy, we aggregate the most recent data from the world’s leading international university rankings into a single, cohesive score. This provides you with a transparent and simplified overview of a university's global standing.
>> To deepen your understanding of how academic prestige is measured, read our guide on how to interpret university rankings and what they are good for.
The methodology:
How is Online Result University Meta Ranking calculated
- In calculating the Online Result University Meta Ranking we rely on the most recent publicly available data provided by the following renowned international university rankings providers:
- World University Rankings by Times Higher Education,
- QS World University Rankings by Topuniversities,
- Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
- Best Global Universities Rankings by U.S. News.
- We use the World Higher Education Database (WHED) to extract the number of universities that exist in the world (there are more than 20,000).
- For each university listed by the WHED, we gather the rankings provided by the four international ranking systems.
- Using an equal weight of 25% for each of the four rankings, we calculate a Meta Ranking score. The lower the score value, the better, and the best possible value is 1.
- We calculate the percentage of WHED-listed universities that have a higher (or similar) meta-ranking score.
How Meta Ranking calculates the best universities in a specific discipline?
- To find the best universities in a specific discipline (For example “What are the best universities to study Law”), we use data related to disciplines as provided by the four international rankings.
- If any discipline is missing from any of the rankings, we first check if it is listed under a different name, or if it is included under a broader category (For example, THE’s ranking doesn’t include “Cyber Security”, so we will provide “Computer Science” rankings instead).
- In case a ranking doesn’t include a certain discipline, we do the math exclusively based on the data of the rankings where it is listed (for example, the “Arts” discipline exists only in the QS, THE and US News rankings, so Shanghai will not be included in our calculations).
- WHED does not provide information about which universities in the world offer which disciplines, so we calculate our percentage based on the total amount.
How Meta Ranking calculates the best universities in a country?
When calculating the Meta Ranking for a specific country—such as the best universities in the United Kingdom—we filter our aggregate scores and determine the percentile based on the total count of WHED-listed universities within that nation.
How Meta Ranking calculates the best universities in a specific country, for a specific discipline
When evaluating the top universities for a specific subject, such as the best schools to study Law in the UK, we apply our methodology to discipline-specific rankings, filtered by country.
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FAQs:
What if a university isn't listed in one or multiple rankings?
If an institution is absent from one or more major rankings, we apply a penalty to its aggregate score. We assign a value equal to the maximum number of ranked universities plus 100 (e.g., if a ranking features 1,500 institutions, an unranked university receives a score of 1,600).
What is the tiebreaker in case of an identical total score?
In the event of a tie, the QS World University Ranking serves as the primary tiebreaker due to its emphasis on international outlook and post-graduation outcomes. If QS scores are identical, the Times Higher Education position serves as the secondary deciding factor.