Our University community is rightly proud of the excellent education we deliver to our students and the impact of our world-leading research. But in a sea of world-class institutions, how do we get noticed?
A university’s position in league tables, particularly those published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and Times Higher Education (THE), is a critical factor as to whether an institution is considered an appropriate destination for study. However, it also brings wider benefits; “Being recognised as a top 100 university creates opportunities for collaboration with other leading universities around the world” says Mark Zwolinski, Associate Dean International, Engineering and Physical Sciences.
In the QS World University Rankings 2023, published in June 2022, the University of Southampton is 78th in the world.
What can you do to help?
While we acknowledge as a community that rankings are just one measure of quality, and it can be argued, do not always give a fully accurate picture of the levels of excellence at Southampton, they have a significant impact across the sector.
Global higher education organisations, such as QS and THE, use data and surveys to publish several different rankings. The two most relevant types of rankings to Southampton are: world university rankings that rank individual higher education institutions globally against each other; and world university rankings by subject which do the same, but are subject-specific.
A key metric in these is a university’s academic reputation. For example, QS invites academics across the world to complete a survey every year, which asks them to identify up to two subjects in which they consider themselves expert, followed by the institutions they consider to be excellent within their field. It is therefore important we make sure every one of our subjects get the recognition they deserve.
QS also allows us to contact academic peers and businesses who employ our graduates to ask them to take part in the QS annual survey which goes out in February each year. In this way we, as a community, are able to take direct action to help ensure the excellence in teaching, research and enterprise at Southampton is recognised.
You will be hearing from your Faculty or School contact shortly to explain how you can contribute by providing details of your peers and industry contacts from around the world so they can receive a QS survey invitation email.
