Analysis and Prediction of QS World University Rankings based on Data Mining Technology

Li, Xuan; Chen, Genlang; Wen, Shiting; Han, Xiaoxiang

doi:10.1145/3551708.3556207

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The best-known ranking systems, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and Times Higher Education (THE) (Ciubotaru, 2022) are based on indicators of research reputation, the learning and teaching environment, citations, internationalization, and industry income (QS, 2021;. There is a wealth of research on modelling global university ranks using their performance indicator components (Agarwal & Tayal, 2022;Anahideh & Mohabbati-Kalejahi, 2022;De Luna Pamanes et al, 2020a;Kaycheng, 2015;Liu et al, 2022;Tabassum et al, 2017), or independent variables including financial, scientific, staff-related metrics, or past ranks (Cantwell & Taylor, 2013;Marconi & Ritzen, 2015;McAleer et al, 2019;Pride & Knoth, 2018) The existing applied techniques included a range of regression (Cantwell & Taylor, 2013;De Luna Pamanes et al, 2020a;Kaycheng, 2015;Liu et al, 2022;Marconi & Ritzen, 2015;McAleer et al, 2019) and machine-learning models (Agarwal & Tayal, 2022;De Luna Pamanes et al, 2020a;Liu et al, 2022;Popoola et al, 2018;Tabassum et al, 2017) Anumber of studies suggest that the performance indicators of THE ranking are highly correlated, and university ranks are mainly predicted by two factors: academic reputation and citations (De Luna Pamanes et al, 2020a;Kaycheng, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While research on the highest-ranked universities is abundant (Cantwell & Taylor, 2013;De Luna Pamanes et al, 2020b;Kaycheng, 2015;Szluka et al, 2023), analysing the lower end of the list is scarce. Top positions on the ranking lists are relatively stable (Grewal et al, 2008;Safón, 2019), but exact positions below rank 600 are volatile and difficult to predict (Liu et al, 2022;Osipov et al, 2020). The number of universities ranked by THE increased from 200 in 2011 to 1800 in 2023 (World University Rankings, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ranking resilience: assessing the impact of scientific performance and the expansion of the Times Higher Education Word University rankings on the position of Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak universities

Tóth,

Motahari-Nezhad,

Horseman

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

University rankings are gaining importance worldwide. While the top-ranked universities are the subject of numerous academic publications, very little literature is available on universities in the lower two-thirds of the ranking list. In this study, we analysed the sensitivity of year to year changes in position in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE) of universities from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia using hypothetical scenarios of potential changes in their research outputs. A regression model was developed that quantifies the effect of the inclusion of institutions that are new to ranking as well as dropouts on the ranking list. We also developed a method to allow customized sensitivity analysis of the subsequent year's rank from an institution's projected research output, given its current rank and research output, assuming that other ranking indicators remain unchanged over 1–2 years. It should be noted that universities in the region have ranked below 800, and while research output has been increasing, it was observed that ranks worsen for most universities from these four countries. The field-weighted citation index and the total volume of publications had the highest effect on rankings, while the proportion of Scimago Q1 publications did not have a consistent effect on the projected next year's ranks. In most universities, the growth in research performance indicators were below the level that would be required to offset the rank changes due to the inclusion of new entrants in ranking. The findings of this research suggest that universities have to consider complex strategies to improve their ranking focusing on other activities than research such as reputation, internationalization, or industry income. With due caution, our results might be generalized to most of the universities below 800 in the THE. The rank prediction tool presented in this article is available online at https://hecon.uni-obuda.hu/en/rank-calculator/. JEL code I21, I23, I28

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ranking resilience: assessing the impact of scientific performance and the expansion of the Times Higher Education Word University rankings on the position of Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak universities

Tóth,

Motahari-Nezhad,

Horseman

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Ranking resilience: assessing the impact of scientific performance and the expansion of the Times Higher Education Word University Rankings on the position of Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak universities

Tóth,

Motahari-Nezhad,

Horseman

et al. 2024

Scientometrics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

University rankings are gaining importance worldwide. While the top-ranked universities are the subject of numerous academic publications, very little literature is available on universities in the lower two-thirds of the ranking list. In this study, we analysed the sensitivity of year to year changes in position in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE) of universities from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia using hypothetical scenarios of potential changes in their research outputs. A regression model was developed that quantifies the effect of the inclusion of institutions that are new to ranking as well as dropouts on the ranking list. We also developed a method to allow customized sensitivity analysis of the subsequent year's rank from an institution's projected research output, given its current rank and research output, assuming that other ranking indicators remain unchanged over 1–2 years. It should be noted that most universities in the region have ranked below 800, and while research output has been increasing, it was observed that ranks worsened for most universities from these four countries. The Field-Weighted Citation Impact and the total volume of publications had the highest effect on rankings, while the proportion of Scimago Q1 publications did not have a consistent effect on the projected next year's ranks. In most universities, the growth in research performance indicators were below the level that would be required to offset the rank changes due to the inclusion of new entrants in ranking. The findings of this research suggest that universities have to consider complex strategies to improve their ranking focusing on other activities than research such as reputation, internationalization, or industry income. With due caution, our results might be generalized to most of the universities below 800 in the THE. The rank prediction tool presented in this article is available online at https://hecon.uni-obuda.hu/en/rank-calculator/.

show abstract

Enhancing research collaboration within a large university department

Gilmour

2023

Innovations in Education and Teaching International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Analysis and Prediction of QS World University Rankings based on Data Mining Technology

Cited by 5 publications

References 17 publications

Ranking resilience: assessing the impact of scientific performance and the expansion of the Times Higher Education Word University rankings on the position of Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak universities

Ranking resilience: assessing the impact of scientific performance and the expansion of the Times Higher Education Word University rankings on the position of Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak universities

Ranking resilience: assessing the impact of scientific performance and the expansion of the Times Higher Education Word University Rankings on the position of Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak universities

Enhancing research collaboration within a large university department

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About