THE released their latest Reputation Rankings at a summit in Hong Kong, giving the first indication of the results from their academic reputation surveys carried out earlier this year.

As ever with this ranking, there was virtually no change in positions from the previous year. As we have pointed out before, the methodology employed tends to reward the superbrands – and unsurprisingly, the top 10 remained exactly the same compared to last year.

THE only ranks the top 50 because they admit that the differentials between institutions after that point become too narrow. And this year, there was only ONE change in the list of universities featured in the top 50 – and that was at 50th place, with University of North Carolina Chapel Hill replacing Penn State.

University of Michigan remains the highest place W100 member, maintaining its position at 15th. Toronto, NUS and LSE are all in the top 25, with Edinburgh, UBC, McGill, King’s College London and Melbourne all retaining top 50 status.

Leiden and Sydney both improved their positions, jumping into the 71-80 category, and UNSW rose into the top 100.

Rather more interesting that the static results of this table were the range of comment pieces accompanying the announcement of the Reputation Rankings. A polemic from a German sociology professor accused universities of overselling their achievements and damaging public trust in science. A more broad ranging piece on the growing importance of reputation including thoughtful insights from several W100 members.

A workshop on the data underpinning the THE Reputation Rankings and the new Impact Rankings will take place at this year’s W100 Annual Conference in Manchester.