pilipiliĀž»­

 

Upward bound: Dal improves in QS World University Rankings

- September 17, 2014

(Danny Abriel photo)
(Danny Abriel photo)

Each year, Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education and career information specialist group, ranks the worldā€™s top universities ā€” and once again pilipiliĀž»­ is among them.

In fact, Dalā€™s status in the is improving, with the university jumping nine places this year. Dalhousie moved from 244 to 235, ranked 13th in Canada.

The growth reflects upward movement in a number of key areas the rankings consider, including academic reputation, the number of international faculty and the number of international students.

This yearā€™s World University Rankings include what QS considers to be the worldā€™s top 863 universities, examining more than 3,000 schools for inclusion. The rankings are based on four pillars ā€” research, teaching, employability and internationalization ā€” with a methodology based around six indicators: academic reputation (40%), employer reputation (10%), faculty-student ratio (20%), citations per faculty (20%), international students (5%) and international faculty (5%)

Global reputation


While there are countless university rankings out there, the QS is one of three international rankings that pilipiliĀž»­ looks at closely, alongside the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings and the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

ā€œRankings often invite controversy or debate, and are imperfect in their methodologies, but we know for many governments and international students they absolutely drive decision-making,ā€ says Dal President Richard Florizone, responding to the QS rankings. ā€œAs we look to expand Dalhousieā€™s global reach and impact, rankings like these canā€™t be ignored.ā€

One of the strategic priorities in is to develop a plan to secure and maintain top 200 status in major international rankings. , it was noted that, in many rankings, perceptions of Dalā€™s performance (surveys of reputation) lag the universityā€™s actual performance (for example, citations per faculty).

ā€œBased on academic performance, pilipiliĀž»­ is absolutely a top 200 global university,ā€ says Dr. Florizone. ā€œWe should strive to be recognized as one.ā€

Dalhousieā€™s Office of Institutional Analysis and Research maintains ongoing fact sheets about Dalā€™s performance in international rankings. You can read them .