At the heart of all the QS rankings are our reputation surveys.
We invite you to help enhance the quantity and quality of responses to our reputational surveys by providing contact details for academics and employers. You can send a completely new or an updated version of previously submitted lists. Details you submit to us will not be used for any other purpose and we are fully GDPR compliant. There are links to all the relevant information here: http://www.iu.qs.com/supporting-documents/. (Some of the links only apply to “university” rankings which you may ignore.)
QS Employer Survey:
QS conducts one global employer survey from which the findings filter through the various QS World University Rankings. The surveys segments employers for those specifically hiring business school graduates and we receive thousands of responses from global employers each year.
- Universities participate and provide up to 400 contacts who are invited to the survey. We also allow business school/faculty specifically to provide up to an additional 400 contacts. Many business schools already take advantage of this opportunity to connect us with employers who recruit specifically from their programs.
- For each ranking QS produces we segment the results of the survey appropriately.
- Providing contacts is not mandatory, although we strongly advise you to participate. The more information that the employers provide on your schools the more we can give back to you. Please find the link to the template here: 2020_employer-contact-details_predefined-format. Once it is filled out then please email it back to daniel.kahn@qs.com.
QS Academic Survey:
QS also conducts one global academic survey from which academic reputation is estimated across many of our rankings. The surveys contains sections relating to business schools and business-related subject areas.
- We receive thousands of responses a year from global academics. Many universities participate and provide up to 400 contacts which we then survey. The business school/faculty are able to provide up to 400 contacts in addition. Although you may provide academics from your school, they may not nominate your institution in any of the categories. We therefore recommend you provide a list of academics who work closely with your school and know firsthand about your research/teaching strengths.
- For each ranking QS produces we segment the results of the survey appropriately.
- Providing contacts is not mandatory, although we strongly advise you to participate. Please find the link to the template here: 2020_academic-contact-details_predefined-format. Once it is filled out then please email it back to daniel.kahn@qs.com.
We ask that you provide the contact information by 1st April 2021. If you are not comfortable providing the contacts to QS directly, then you are welcome to share the following survey links with your contacts:
- Employer Survey: https://qsnetwork.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_25lSJ6buYyvsgrX?Q_JFE=qdg&source=dk
Q: Is there a minimum number of employers/academics we may submit?
A: No, there is no minimum
Q: Is there a separate employer/academic survey for business schools than with universities?
A: No, there is only one employer/academic survey. Respondents identify their background at the start of the survey and are led on different paths determined by their expertise.
Q: When you compile the results for the business school related rankings what weighting is applied to the previous 5 years of responses which are used?
A:
As an example:
|
2019 |
1 |
|
2018 |
1 |
|
2017 |
0.75 |
|
2016 |
0.5 |
|
2015 |
0.25 |
Q: When we are compiling the lists would you say quality or quantity is more important?
A: We have no real answer to this, as it completely depends on the characteristics of the respondent. It’s a maths question, because it depends on the magnitude of quality vs the level of quantity.
Q: Academics who teach at a Business School may not vote for their school in the academic survey. If we nominate academics from the main University who do not teach at the Business School, are they eligible to nominate the BSchool, despite the fact that it is one of the University’s schools?
A: Although we don’t have any mechanism to hinder academics from nominating a parent/child institution in the survey, we map responses coming from the same parent institutions and exclude it from our analysis.
Q: Can an academic who teaches in more than one school vote register this?
A: At the moment participants can only name one institution as where they work.
Q: Our business school is part of the main university. I know that the university does submit employer/academic lists. Should we still?
A: Yes, we recommend it. Although a university may submit up to 400 contacts per survey, these contacts would cover the whole university and all it’s faculties. We give the business faculty/school a chance to submit a further 400 contacts per survey. We recommend that you work with your university to liase how best to do this strategically.
Q: When should employer/academics complete the survey by?
A: They should respond to the surveys by 30th May 2021 if they are to be counted in the September 2021 release.
Q: Which is the first Business School related ranking that makes use of our employer/academic submission between November 2020 - April 2021?
A: The first ranking will be the September (2021) release of the MBA/Masters Rankings. We will then use the information to compile the EMBA ranking in February 2022. The EMBA Ranking in 2021 will make use of the previous years reputational data.
Q: Where can we see some information about the spread of responses the QS surveys receive?
A:
http://www.iu.qs.com/employer-survey-responses/
http://www.iu.qs.com/academic-survey-responses/
Q: We have previously submitted lists. Should we resubmit the same lists as they don’t change much year on year or should we only submit new contacts?
A: We don’t keep your contacts longer than two years, with this in mind, you are free to submit what you wish whether that be new contacts or the same.
Q: Do Universities/Business School need to seek consent from their contacts before providing QS with lists?
A: QS is GDPR compliant. We will not accept any list of personal information from anyone who has not seeked consent beforehand. There is a tick-box on the data submission forms for the employer/academic contacts where the institution can confirm that all contacts provided have given consent beforehand to have their information given to QS.
Q: What other data will I have to provide as part of the rankings?
A: You can view the methodologies below. These give you an idea of what data we collect and how it is used.
Global MBA: https://www.topuniversities.com/mba-rankings/methodology
Specialized Masters: https://www.topuniversities.com/business-masters-rankings/methodology
Online MBA: https://www.topmba.com/mba-rankings/online-mba-rankings/methodology
Executive MBA: https://www.topmba.com/emba-rankings/methodology
Q: When should we submit the lists by?
A: The first deadline is February 3rd 2021. You may submit later if needed with May 30th being the final deadline.
Q: How long will the survey be open for?
A: Please bear in mind that the survey will be open until at least June 2021. Having said that, time is needed for the participants to sign up, and then respond to survey (once they have received it). With this in mind we have set the deadline for February to be sure you submit the contacts in time.
Q: I know the university has to submit the lists by February. Why can business schools submit later?
A: The QS World University Rankings are released in June. The MBA/Masters rankings are released in September. This gives us more time to collect information. The surveys do not close until later in the year.
Q: Can we get feedback on who responded to the QS Surveys?
A: At present we are limited in what feedback we can give. Having said that last year we gave a brief summary in the fact files. We are working to give you more and more feedback from the employers/academics who respond.