I'm interested in international rankings for various disciplines at
the graduate level.  Looking for a HIGHLY respected and detailed
rankings guide similar to the U.S. News & World Report supplement
restricted to only U.S./North American Universities.

Rankings are subjective and may be limited to only certain
disciplines.  They may be unavailable altogether since University are
somewhat touch-and-go about being ranked and are rather closed in
general unless it is in their interest.
That's why I'm asking you to do some research (: .  My first scan
turned up only mildly interesting info.  My intuition is that there
isn't enough world-wide coordination to support such an organized
report.

I'm particularly interested in Middle Eastern History, Philosophy,
Classics, Linguistics, etc.; Physics (especially if this is broken
into subdisciplines like Classical, Particle, High-Energy, etc.);
Engineering-related (especially Electrical, Computer and Computer
Sciences); Chemistry (bio, inorg, etc.).
So Engineering, Sciences and Classics mostly (not much, eh?).

I'm not so much interested in individual web searches for the above
specific areas unless they have detailed rankings and are highly
respected.  So, don't just turn up a bunch of links with simple
commentary on what might be the best school.  I'm looking for a source
for rankings that seems to be accepted by most universities
themselves.  The U.S. News & World Report supplement is an excellent
model, though I wouldn't need every piece of info that the report
typically gives.

Particularly interesting data would be variety in sub-topics that are
pursuable at the institution, number of professors with exceptional
awards/publishing in their field (nobel, fields, for example), funding
for research and travel interests, broadness of research possibilities
at the institution, alternate styles of learning and teaching,
flexibility in the program, finances for graduate students, etc.

Higher percentage of the total will be paid as you progress toward
more detail in all the stuff I mentioned.

---

Request for Question Clarification by aceresearcher-ga on 09 Dec 2002 10:59 PST

Hi, rlwaldrop!

Can you clarify whether you will accept fee-based resources as an Answer?

Thanks,

aceresearcher

---

Clarification of Question by rlwaldrop-ga on 09 Dec 2002 14:35 PST

So the question for clarification is on fee-based resources.

Yes, I would accept fee-based resources if they are affordable
(say less than $100 total for all information of interest)
and if they meet the other criteria.

---

Request for Question Clarification by aceresearcher-ga on 09 Dec 2002 14:43 PST

rlwaldrop,

As pointed out by shivreddy and probonopublico, with the exception of
the US News and World Report survey, this information is not likely to
be found all in one place. I could pull together a number of sources
for the various disciplines, but I'm not sure how credible each
separate source would be. Free lists are usually put out by an
organization with an agenda. Fee-based lists may be more objective,
but I do not believe I could create a list of them that would total
anywhere as low as $100.

Perhaps another Researcher will have better ideas on ways to find this
information for you.

Regards,

aceresearcher

---

Clarification of Question by rlwaldrop-ga on 09 Dec 2002 15:02 PST

I'm not totally surprised.  Can you tell me how much you think it
would be to put together a fee-based schedule of resources?  Also,
without giving me your inside info, can you tell me more about these
and what types of organizations administer them?

Generally, I'm looking to see if there is a free resource, so it's
probably to be left to another or is futile.

Thanks.

Answer to Question 121902, "University Rankings", by rlwaldrop-ga 

I started by requesting (via email) any available international data
on university rankings at the International Association of
Universities:

Ms. Claudine Langlois, Director
IAU/UNESCO Information Centre on Higher Education
International Association of Universities (IAU)
UNESCO House, 1, rue Miollis,
75732 Paris Cedex 15, France 

The reply confirmed what other researchers have already indicated,
i.e., there is no such thing as a single, integrated ranking.  Then I
decided to search regional/national rankings (other that the U.S. News
& World Report report you already have) that would clearly define the
methods and criteria used for ranking.  This is what I found:

ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD

A Ranking of Graduate Programs in Philosophy in the English-Speaking
World
http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/breakdown.htm

Generally, these rankings are meant to reflect the quality,
reputation, and influence of the work done by faculty at these various
departments. Departments with many good faculty in an area tend to be
ranked higher.  Click on "Methods & Criteria" for detailed description
of the ranking methodology.  Universities are ranked under the
following categories:

    * Philosophy of Language and Linguistics
    * Philosophy of Mind and Language
    * Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science
    * Ethics
    * Metaethics
    * Political Philosophy
    * Applied Moral, Political and Social Philosophy
    * Philosophy of Law
    * Philosophy of Science
    * Philosophy of Physics
    * Philosophy of Biology
    * Philosophy of Social Science
    * Formal Logic
    * Philosophical Logic and Philosophy of Logic and Language
    * Philosophy of Mathematics
    * Metaphysics
    * Epistemology
    * Philosophy of Art/Aesthetics
    * Philosophy of Action
    * Philosophy of Religion
    * Decision Theory/Rational Choice Theory/Game Theory
    * Ancient Philosophy
    * Medieval Philosophy
    * Early Modern Philosophy: 17th Century
    * Early Modern Philosophy: 18th Century
    * Kant
    * Post-Kantian Idealism
    * 19th Century German Philosophy After Idealism
    * 20th Century Continental Philosophy
    * History of Analytical Philosophy
    * American Pragmatism (Pierce, James, Dewey)
    * Wittgenstein
    * Chinese Philosophy
    * Indian Philosophy
    * Advice on chosing programs

========================================================

BRITAIN & IRELAND

Study in Britain -- University Rankings by Subject
http://www.studyinbritain.com/universityrankings.asp

This is a compilation of information published by The Sunday Times
from the latest data available.  The rankings are sorted by country of
study (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland) and by
field of study.
 
The universities were ranked according to the marks they scored in
seven key performance indicators:

   1. Teaching quality
   2. Research quality
   3. A-level points
   4. Student/staff ratio
   5. Employment
   6. Firsts/2:1s awarded


========================================================

ASIA

Asia's Best Universities 2000
http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/features/g
Note: As of 1999, the ranking criteria was as follows:

Data from 1999 questionnaires supplemented by updated numbers from
other sources were used for these universities. Multi-disciplinary
universities offer a broad spectrum of courses from arts to business
to engineering. Science and technology schools have a more specialized
focus.

Academic Reputation: Each university was asked to rate its peers on a
scale of 1 to 5. Thirty Asian corporations and 11 foreign universities
(among them Columbia University, University of California Los Angeles
and University of Leicester) also gave ratings. The total score was
divided by the number of responses.

Student Selectivity: Derived from 1) number of first-year students
accepted compared with total applicants, 2) enrollees compared with
accepted students, 3) median score of first-year students in the
national or university entrance test. Extra 2 points were awarded to
schools whose educational systems or individual policies severely
restrict the number of university applicants.

Faculty Resources: Derived from 1) full-time teachers/researchers with
PhD degrees, 2) full-time teachers/researchers with master's and PhD
degrees, 3) median pay, 4) per-teacher university spending, and 5)
student-teacher ratio. Extra 2 points were awarded to universities
that grant non-monetary benefits such as free housing.

Research: Derived from 1) citations in academic journals as tracked by
the Journal Citation Index, 2) articles in peer-reviewed journals, 3)
papers presented in international conferences, 4) published books, 5)
research funding, and 6) graduate students.

Financial resources: Derived from 1) total spending per student, 2)
library spending per student, 3) Internet bandwidth and 4) public
computers and connection points. A sixth attribute, laboratory
spending, was added for science and technology schools.

Other Notes: Variables were ranked from highest to lowest, with the
top university given 100 points. The others were assigned points as a
percentage of the highest score. When a piece of data is not
available, ratios from the 1999 survey or the lowest score of a school
from the same country were used. All money figures were converted into
Purchasing-Power Parity dollars, based on World Bank ratios.

The following "world-class" universities are listed:

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY
http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/features/universities2000/schools/multi.overall.html

Top 10:

Kyoto University
Tohoku University (Japan)
University of Hong Kong
Seoul National University
National University of Singapore
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology
Australian National University
University of Melbourne
University of New South Wales

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/features/universities2000/scitech/sci.overall.html

Top 10:

Korea Advanced Inst. of Science & Technology
Pohang Univ. of Science & Technology (South Korea)
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 
Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) 
Taiwan University of Science & Tech

==================================================

AUSTRALIA

Ranking of Business Schools (MBA Programs)
http://www.afrboss.com.au/magarticle.asp?doc_id=20304&listed_months=25
http://www.afrboss.com.au/downloads/bossranktab.pdf 

Click on "Methodology" to see their method of procedure and definition
of ranking criteria.

=================================================

EUROPE -- ECONOMICS DEPARTMENTS

European economics: An analysis based on publications in the core
journals
Pantelis Kalaitzidakis, Theofanis P. Mamuneas, Thanasis Stengos
Department of Economics, University of Cyprus
European Economic Review 43 (1999) 1150-1168
http://www.econ.ox.ac.uk/members/marcel.fafchamps/homepage/1364.pdf

Abstract

In this paper we provide a ranking of European economics institutions
and countries based on publications in a core set of 10 economic
journals from 1991 to 1996. We find that the three leading
universities in Europe are the London School of Economics, Tel-Aviv
University and Oxford University while the three top-ranked countries
are the U.K., France and Israel.

===================================================

CHINA

China's University Rankings 2001
http://rank2001.netbig.com/en/phb_0.htm

The ranking categories, weights, and indicators used are well defined:
http://rank2001.netbig.com/en/about/03.htm

Top 20 (of 992):

Peking University
Tsinghua University
Fudan University
Nanjing University
Zhejiang University
University of Science & Technology of China
Shanghai Jiaotong University
Tianjin University
Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics
Nan'kai University
Jilin University
Beijing Normal University
Harbin Insititue of Technology
Wuhan University
Huazhong University of Scientice & Technology
Renmin University of China
Sichuang University
Beijing Institute of Technology
Tongji University
ZhongShan University

======================================================

Perhaps the most useful findings of this research were the following:

IAU/UNESCO Information Centre on Higher Education 
http://www.unesco.org/iau/centre_gen.html

World Higher Education Database (WHED)
http://www.unesco.org/iau/whed.html

This is a database of RFT documents (free downloads) which provide
detailed information on all institutions of higher education for 180
countries.  It is also available as a CD ROM ($300).

The 2002/2003 edition of the World Higher Education Database combines
the latest databases of the International Handbook of Universities and
the World List of Universities and Other Institutions of Higher
Education, all completely cross-referenced on one fully searchable
CD-ROM, plus additional material such as profiles of higher education
in each country.

One CD-ROM gives you exhaustive coverage of over 16,000 higher
education institutions in more than 180 countries. Fast and easy to
use, it is the most efficient way to find information about any higher
education institution throughout the world.  Given the impossibility
of a single integrated ranking of the 3000+ universities in the globe,
this may be the most effective way to identify the best universities
on any given subject and for any set of geographic and other
constraints.

The CD-ROM can be ordered from:

Macmillan’s global academic publishing
Houndmills, Basingstoke
Hampshire RG21 6XS, UK
Tel : +44 (0)1256 329242
Fax : +44 (0)1256 357268
Direct Customer Service: orders@palgrave.com

I hope this information will be useful to you.  Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you need further information.

Best regards,
pelican-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by pelican-ga on 02 Jan 2003 16:05 PST

P.S. BSchool.com has done an international comparison of MBA programs:
 
BSchool.com -- International Side by Side Rankings
http://www.bschool.com/intlsbys.html

However, I cannot find the comparative analysis and/or ranking criteria.

pelican-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by rlwaldrop-ga on 30 Jan 2003 10:28 PST

So, referring to my posting above, I'll break down what criteria
I put for evaluating answers below (on an "out of 5" measure).  

Before that, though, generally a good start.  A nice showing.  Very
thorough compared to many postings.  Thank you!  I'm actually
quite surprised that someone pursued it.

1.  "Highly respected and detailed rankings"
2.  Particular foci:  Middle Eastern History, Philosophy, Classics,
    Linguistics, etc.; Physics, Chemistry and Engineering.
    Summation:  Engineering, Sciences and Classics (I'll note that
    Philosophy and maybe Middle Eastern History isn't necessarily
    classics)
3.  Not interested in individual web searches for the above unless
    fitting point 1.  Generally looking for a source for the rankings.
    USNews&WorldReport is an example of a good model.
4.  Interesing data:  sub-topics of study, number of professors, 
    exceptional awards won by profs, available funding/finances, alternative
    learning/teaching, flexibility in the program, etc.

So, I used etc. twice which is vague, but hopefully you looked at
what I wrote in your searches instead of just the etc.'s

Now, what you found:

http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/breakdown.htm 

Seems a very good source on philosophy.  A bravo find in that it covers
all of English-speaking world.  Unfortunately, it is limited to just that.
But it seems to be kept current.  The big problem is that all the data
for the U.S. I can pretty much get from the USNews&WorldReport listing.

Score:  I'll give this a 4/5 (closer to 5/5) since
it seems to match 1, have elements of 2, is acceptable though not preferred
in 3 and has very interesting data required in 4.

---

http://www.studyinbritain.com/universityrankings.asp 

So, at the outset the web site is clearly geared toward Americans wanting
study abroad possibilities.  The main problem with the site is that there
isn't much info given on how the rankings were arrived at.  I saw your list
of 6, but didn't see that on the site, nor did I see any really convincing
info on the credibility of those ranking the institutions.  Also, I'm no
expert in European Universities, but I think I know enough to know that
Oxford and Cambridge should probably be ranked higher in general.  Possibly
there is some bias in the information.

Score:  2/5  For missing point 1, hitting point 2, missing point 3, and
sort of missing point 4 (there was some interesting info).

---

http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/features/universities2000/index.html

So, first, the website URL isn't correct (unless the 'g' is a variable 
for me to fill in).  Also, the site has malfunctions
in it which bring its credibility to question.  But, it did seem to have 
put some effort into finding the results.

Score:  2.5/5 for hitting on detail in 1, hitting on 2, missing on 3 and
having a fair amount on 4.  Bonus for it being in English (though it is
concerning).

---

http://www.afrboss.com.au/magarticle.asp?doc_id=20304&listed_months=25
http://www.afrboss.com.au/downloads/bossranktab.pdf  

I'm not particularly interested in business schools.  The site also
seemed to be falling apart.

Score:  1/5 for getting some interesting info, but missing the target
(I'll assume you were give me bonus info here and won't include in general
score)

---

http://www.econ.ox.ac.uk/members/marcel.fafchamps/homepage/1364.pdf 

While not particularly on topic, this is interesting.  It doesn't look
like it has longevity to it (in terms of being updated) and it is written
by two professors from Cyprus which makes one wonder how well it was 
received <em>in</em> Europe.

Score: 1.5/5 for getting interesting info.  I'll assume this was bonus
too.

---

http://rank2001.netbig.com/en/phb_0.htm 
http://rank2001.netbig.com/en/about/03.htm 

This site seemed to have some good info, but not individual dept. rankings.

Score: 3/5 for being a detailed site and having many elements requested.

---

http://www.unesco.org/iau/centre_gen.html 
http://www.unesco.org/iau/whed.html 

This was indeed a good find.  But I couldn't find relative rankings among
the countries or intra-country rankings.  Possibly contacting these people
will bring me something.

Score: 3.75/5 for quality without completeness.

---

The synopsis is that you found alot of good info, but not exactly what I
was asking for.  You found the info by doing individual searches that yielded
sparse info without meeting the primary goal of finding one source or a set
of sources that, similar to US N&WR provide coverage of all interest areas.

I'm willing to pay $30 or so for this info, but not $50, so I'll give you
an opportunity to clarify or rescind the answer.

I'm sorry it took me so long to respond, but I had to study all of the info.

Thank you.

See my request for clarification

Hi,

You can use this document, the NRC rankings for Electrical
Engineering. NRC is accepted as authority by International Students. I
have personally used this list in narrowing down my search for an
M.S./Ph.D. program in the United States...

I have uploaded the list here:
http://iconocaste.web1000.com/nrcrank.htm
(I have no idea of the legend and acronyms, but let this list serve as
a guide)
Warmest Regards,
Shiv Reddy

I haven't done any serious research on the subject (so I might be
gravely mistaken) but my impression is, that there is no such list,
because:
(1) There are many different criteria to examine the ranking of a
university. The US Report is not considered credible by many
academics, but is the best there is.
(2) There are many different forms of programs. Some countries teach
BA and MA together, and PhD seperatedly; some have a "graduate school"
system, and some have separate degrees for bachelor, masters and
doctorate.
(3) For an individual it might not matter, how many nobel prize
winners there are in the university. The hot shots might be revealed
as cocky snobs who are always away in conferences and are never there
to care for their students. The big universities could be insitutions
where each student was his class' summa cum laude (=best, in Latin),
and your chances to get a grant, or to get noticed, are minor.
Personacl 'click' with the supervisor, a caring supervisor, a good
library and labs and a supportive institutions (as much as department
secretaries could be supportive of students, who are the enemy, as
everyone knows) are sometimes more important and would not appear in
any ranking.

My I note though, that my observation, despite being unresearched, was
strengthened after a talk with someone in the field of academic
counsulting.

Yes, I agree with politicalguru. During my quest for information (the
research lasted a year and a half) on Universities in the US, I
repeatedly ran into a wall. No single source can be considered good in
any sense, and I realised that pretty early in my search. No
University endorses any list too. Owing to these things, it is going
to be tough to find a comprehensive list with the information you
need.

Regards,
Shiv Reddy

Hello rlwaldrop-ga, you wrote:

> The synopsis is that you found alot of good info, but not exactly
what I
> was asking for.  You found the info by doing individual searches
that yielded
> sparse info without meeting the primary goal of finding one source
or a set
> of sources that, similar to US N&WR provide coverage of all interest
areas.

The searching coverage was very comprehensive, using multiple search
engines for each geographic area.  As noted early in the answer,
"there is no such thing as a single, integrated ranking".  The most
universal set of sources is UNESCO's WHED database.
 
> I'm willing to pay $30 or so for this info, but not $50, so I'll
give you
> an opportunity to clarify or rescind the answer. 
 
I would be willing to do additional research.  But what is it,
specifically, that you want me to clarify?

Sincerely,
pelican-ga