Page 36 - EW January 2025

Special Essay

QS Rankings are useless

for undergrad education

SHEILA BAUER RAY RAVAGLIA

HE UNIVERSITY RANKING INDUSTRY IS ines- Given the unimportance of QS Rankings
capable. Universities worldwide spend significant
money chasing rankings, and university adminis- in its core constituency, it is unlikely that
Ttrators’ careers can be made or broken by the rise US universities are factoring them into
and fall of institutions in ranking league tables. New rank-
ings emerge every year, with claims to providing unique their operations. Why should students
value. At the same time, critiques of rankings are becoming do so?
more common.
Against this backdrop, it’s becoming increasingly diffi-
cult for parents/students to know what to do. Which rank- look for universities where internships are mandatory and
ings can be trusted, and which are better ignored? where students can gain research experience in the first
One of the rankings often relied upon by international or second year. Large government universities often fail
students are the QS World University Rankings. These to provide internships to all students and reserve research
rankings rely on four key metrics, contributing to 90 per- for students in postgrad programs. Smaller, more nimble
cent of the overall score. They are: Academic Reputation universities frequently have industry connections that al-
(measured by surveying academics), Employer Reputation low them not only to provide internships, but to mandate
(measured by surveying employers), Faculty/Student Ratio internships for their students. Internships and undergradu-
(measured by head count), Research Citations per Faculty ate research experience is your best preparation for future
(using publication data). employment or admission into best postgrad programs.
This data enables a prospective parent/student to evalu- s for your economic/remuneration goals, this is where
ate the research impact and relative visibility of the univer- Athe QS World University Rankings fail spectacularly.
sities and their graduates. While this might be valuable for There is nothing in their rankings that looks at economic
selecting postgraduate institution or to an academic seeking outcomes. Students should instead look at rankings like
a faculty position, it is practically useless for selecting where New York Times College Mobility rankings based on the
to pursue undergraduate education. Information about the work of economist Raj Chetty (https://www.nytimes.com/
quality of teaching or quality of the student experience is interactive/projects/college-mobility/rose-hulman-insti-
conspicuously missing. Nor do QS league tables provide any tute-of-technology).
information about the economic impact of a degree from These latter rankings examine the likelihood of a student
top-ranked universities. entering college from the bottom quintile of family incomes
It’s also worth noting that US universities and students reaching the top quintile ten years after graduation. Exclud-
tend to ignore QS Rankings. A comparison of Google Trends ing specialty programs in subjects like pharmacy and the
for search terms ‘QS World University Rankings’ and ‘Col- merchant marine, while assessing the top seven universities
lege Rankings’ shows that while the former outpaces the with best outcomes, one is likely to notice unfamiliar names
latter by a ratio of 6-1 in India, the latter outpaces the for- that most students in India are unlikely to recognise. The
mer 32-1 in the US. Given the comparative unimportance best universities for economic outcomes are: Rose-Hulman
of QS rankings in its core constituency, it is unlikely that US Institute: 78 percent, Kettering University: 75 percent, Har-
universities are factoring the QS rankings into their opera- vey Mudd College: 74 percent, Claremont McKenna Univer-
tions. Why, therefore, should students do so? sity: 68 percent, Babson University: 68 percent, Worcester
The questions that students should be asking are those Polytechnic Institute: 68 percent, MIT: 67 percent.
that will help them evaluate their return on investment. What’s most noticeable about this list is that no Ivy
Specifically: Will universities high ranked by QS provide an League schools are listed. Moreover, of the schools that are
excellent education? Will QS top-ranked universities posi- listed, only two have QS University Rankings. MIT is ranked
tion me for employment or postgraduate admission? Will #1 and Worcester Polytechnic Institute #905.
they help me achieve my remuneration goals? As you search for universities, ask yourself what mat-
Answering the first question requires students to take ters more to you: the likelihood that you will find yourself
a hard look at themselves. If you are a student who wants in the top quintile of salary earners or that you attended
individual attention from your professors, signing up with a university whose faculty had the most citations of their
a large university will be a mistake because you will not re- research papers? And then ask yourself which ranking you
ceive that type of attention. If you don’t have stellar marks should pay attention to.
in high school, you should not go to a university with large The information you need to make good decisions is
enrolment. Each university is optimised for a certain stu- available. It is just not where you are looking.
dent profile.
As regards employment and postgraduate admission, (Dr. Ray Ravaglia and Sheila K. Bauer are co-founders of AccessUSA)

36 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2025