Rankings Watch: Reputation has been identified as the key factor driving changes in most global universities, as identified by THE in its latest ranking

The first rankings of the year were published on 27 February, with QS releasing their latest Subject Rankings, driven by data from the QS reputation surveys of academics and employers, and research metric data from Scopus.

The beginning of the calendar year is traditionally a quiet time in the rankings business – at least in terms of new data being released.

The second major rankings of the season, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) produced by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy (formerly part of Shanghai Jiao Tong University), has been published.

More success for World 100 members in a new ranking from Times Higher Education, this time seeking to measure teaching quality – a long overdue innovation, given the lack of education-focused metrics in the traditional global rankings.

The global rankings season is upon us, with the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings first out of the traps with a launch at the NAFSA conference in Philadelphia on 30 May.

It is not only Higher Education that is obsessed with rankings; they are seemingly everywhere, perhaps given the media-friendly hooks they provide.

The challenges of having effective methodologies and data collection processes were highlighted recently with US News & World Report pulling a top MBA course from one of its key rankings.

New year, new rankings season! Times Higher Education has launched its reputation survey with academics around the globe, the results of which will feed into the next THE Reputation Rankings and 2019 World University Rankings.

It’s a busy time of year for rankings. In the past few weeks, we’ve seen the publication of the 2018 US News & World Report Best Global Universities

In 2016/17, The World 100 Reputation Network annual research project explored the reputation surveys that contribute to major university rankings, with a particular focus on ranking influencers: academics and employers.