In Latest World University “Rankometer”, Chinese, Australian Universities Advance

A composite ranking of the five most influential world university rankings, shows universities from China and Australia are advancing, although American and British institutions still dominate the ranking.

SINGAPORE, Thursday 21 July 2022 – Singapore-based EdTech start-up AppliedHE has launched the second edition of its AppliedHE Rankometer: World University Rankings, which combines five of the most influential world university rankings into a single measure of university quality.

In its latest update, which follows the launch of the first edition in January 2021, the Rankometer shows some notable changes in university performance among the world’s top 500 universities, including at the country-level.

“The Rankometer 2022 results are relatively similar to the ones published in January 2021, showing the overall stability of a composite ranking system,” notes Dr. Kevin Downing, Chair of the AppliedHE Ranking Advisory Board and Secretary to Council & Court and Director, Institutional Research Office at the City University of Hong Kong. Adding: “At the same time, Rankometer captures some important changes, such as the entry of Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in 250th  place, and a decline in the number of U.S. universities among the top-500 institutions, although the United States still dominates the Rankometer with 116 universities, followed by the United Kingdom with 51,  and China with 44.”

Australia, which, like in 2021, has 29 universities in the Rankometer, showed an improvement in the average rank of their universities by 14 places. The average rank of Chinese universities improved by 12 places, while the average rank of universities in the United States fell by 25 places. Universities in the United Kingdom ranked about the same compared to the January 2021 Rankometer.

Commenting on the need for the Rankometer, Mandy Mok, CEO & Founder of AppliedHE notes: “Rankometer adds value, by providing students and parents with a transparent and reliable measure of university quality. Instead of comparing many different rankings, which all have their biases and different focus, why not look at the aggregate figures in our Rankometer?”

She also noted the positive reception of Rankometer, adding that “Rankometer 2021 was AppliedHE’s first-ever ranking, and has helped us build momentum for the AppliedHE Private University Ranking: ASEAN, launched earlier this year. We are now planning to expand this ranking to Asia-Pacific.”

The AppliedHE Rankometer combines the World University Rankings published by QS (UK), Times Higher Education (UK), Shanghai Rankings (China), Leiden University’s CWTS (The Netherlands) and CSIC’s Cybermetrics Lab (Spain), which publishes the Webometrics ranking. These rankings are selected because they are cited most frequently in the international media, and they are therefore the most influential globally.

“All five university rankings measure something different, and by combining them in the AppliedHE Rankometer the universities that perform strongly across the board in all five ranking systems are placed at the top.” explained Dr. Kevin Downing.

The rankings are computed using a simple and transparent method: the ranks of a university in all five rankings are added up together. Then, just like in a game of golf, the university with the lowest score is ranked first, etc. Universities which are not ranked or ranked 1000th or lower, automatically score 1000 points in that ranking.

Some insights from the Rankometer:

Top five universities worldwide: no changes in composition since January 2021, although Harvard and MIT are now tied in first place, with Stanford University in third.

Top five universities in Asia: Peking University now ranks 59th together with the University of Hong Kong, taking the joint-fifth place among Asian universities.

Top five newly included universities in Rankometer: the following universities have been included in Rankometer for the first time.

* University of Victoria was erroneously excluded from Rankometer January 2021 due to a naming mix-up with other “Victoria”-universities from Australia and New Zealand. 

Other new entrants from Asia and Africa include: Sejong University (462), University of Johannesburg (491), Amirkabir University of Technology (492), East China University of Science and Technology (495) and Waseda University (500).

Country summaries: for countries with 10 or more universities in Rankometer 2022, improving average rankings for universities from China and Australia, and a decline in average rankings and the number of universities in Rankometer for the United States. Note: A negative change in average ranking is an improvement, as it means institutions rank higher.

* Performance of Canada in January 2021 Rankometer may have been underestimated due to the erroneous exclusion of the University of Victoria (Canada).

Rankometer Launch

Please register for the Rankometer online launch via https://AppliedHE.com/appliedhe-rankometer-2022/.

Complete Results

Will be available at https://AppliedHE.com/rankometer-2022/ on 21 July 2022.