Choosing a certain university is a decision that should be based on performance criteria only. A reference that can be useful for undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as for academics and researchers is the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, powered by Thomson Reuters, which provides comparisons between worldwide universities based on 13 performance indicators. Recently, they have published the list of the best universities in the world for the academic year 2013-2014.
Recently, we have posted a top containing the best universities in the world for the academic year 2012-2013. The universities were chosen in terms of academic performance, research, innovation degree and staff, a very complex process involving performance indicators being set in place. I figured I would post an update of the top, given the fact that another year has passed and that the data have been collected. However, the top did not change that much, except the fact that Harvard got its leading position back. So, I decided to post a top of universities … by reputation. But what would be the difference between these two tops? Isn’t reputation a “sum-up word” for those mentioned above?
Everyone has been through this: trying to choose a university that best suits their needs. Fortunately, nowadays people can benefit from official rankings of the best universities in the world. One of the key annual events in the international higher education calendar is represented by the publication of the Times Higher Education Rankings, which helps undergraduates and postgraduates to choose their degree courses form a large “pallet of colors”. Moreover, academics can take informed decisions regarding their career, research teams can identify new partners and university managers can benchmark their performance and set their strategic objectives.
Now in their second year, the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings lists the world’s best colleges and university based on reputation. The top 25 list is dominated by USA and UK based universities (THE, 2012):
Times Higher Education has published the 2010-2011 World University Rankings, the list of the world’s top performing universities. At its seventh edition, the World University Rankings offers a broad perspective on the world’s leading academic institutions, comprising the top 200 universities list, as well as rankings by region and by subject.
