• “How is this institution perceived by the global academic community in terms of teaching and research excellence, within its areas of expertise and across the disciplines in which it operates?”

Stakeholders need a globally comparable measure of academic excellence that captures informed peer judgement beyond what quantitative measures alone can reveal.

The Academic Reputation indicator answers this question using nominations collected through the QS Global Academic Survey. Academics nominate institutions demonstrating excellence within their declared subject expertise and geographic familiarity, while self-nominations are excluded.

QS combines validated nominations across five survey years, weighting the three most recent years at 100%, the fourth at 50% and the fifth at 25%. Subject, regional and statistical adjustments support fair comparison and allow the indicator to reflect research quality, teaching strength, academic partnerships, educational innovation and wider impact.

Students

• “Which universities are recognised by academic experts for excellence in the subjects I want to study?”

The indicator provides a peer-informed signal of teaching and research quality. Because respondents nominate institutions within their declared areas of expertise, results can distinguish subject-level strengths that may not be visible in an institution’s overall position.

This helps students identify institutions recognised for intellectual leadership, strong academic provision and specialist excellence. It should be interpreted alongside indicators covering student experience, outcomes and other dimensions of institutional performance.

Institutions

• “How is our institution perceived by academic peers, overall and within our priority subjects and regions?”

The indicator provides evidence of external academic recognition across subjects, faculty areas and geographic markets. Its five-year data window supports stable benchmarking, while annual updates allow institutions to monitor gradual changes in reputation.

The results can inform research investment, academic recruitment, partnerships and international positioning. However, because reputation changes slowly and may reflect historical visibility, institutions should use the indicator diagnostically rather than treating short-term promotion as a substitute for sustained academic improvement.

Employers

• “Which institutions are recognised by academics for rigorous education and subject-level excellence relevant to the talent and expertise we need?”

Although based on academic rather than employer opinion, the indicator provides an external signal of the perceived quality and rigour of an institution’s teaching and research. Subject-level results can help employers identify universities known for excellence in fields relevant to their workforce needs.

Academic Reputation does not directly measure employability, workplace performance or graduate outcomes. It therefore complements, rather than replaces, employment-focused indicators and direct evidence of candidates’ skills and experience.

Students

For students, Academic Reputation provides a trusted, peer-informed signal of institutional quality that complements more quantitative indicators. It reflects how universities are regarded by academics who are directly engaged in teaching and research, offering prospective students confidence that highly rated institutions are recognised for intellectual leadership and academic excellence in their chosen field.

The subject-level granularity of the indicator is particularly valuable in helping students identify universities with strong reputations in specific disciplines, rather than relying solely on overall rankings. This supports more informed decision-making by aligning student aspirations with institutions that are respected by experts in the relevant academic community.

Institutions

For institutions, Academic Reputation is a critical measure of external perception and global standing within the academic community. It provides insight into how their teaching, research, partnerships, and strategic positioning are recognised by peers worldwide. This can inform institutional strategy, including investment in research areas, international collaboration, and academic recruitment.

The longitudinal nature of the data also allows institutions to track changes in reputation over time, helping them evaluate the impact of strategic initiatives. As reputation influences student demand, partnerships, and funding opportunities, this indicator is a key benchmark for institutional performance and competitiveness.

Employers

Although based on academic opinion, Academic Reputation is highly relevant for employers as it reflects the perceived quality and rigour of education and research at an institution. Employers often use reputation as a proxy for graduate preparedness, intellectual capability, and the strength of academic training, particularly in specialised fields.

The indicator helps employers identify institutions known for excellence in particular disciplines, supporting targeted recruitment strategies. It also reinforces confidence in the academic foundations of graduates entering the workforce, especially in knowledge-intensive and research-driven sectors.

Policymakers

For policymakers, Academic Reputation offers a globally comparable perspective on the perceived strength of national and regional higher education systems. It highlights which institutions are recognised internationally for academic excellence, providing insight into areas of competitive advantage as well as potential gaps in performance or visibility.

This information can support policy development related to research funding, internationalisation strategies, and higher education reform. By understanding how institutions are perceived globally, policymakers can better align investments and initiatives to strengthen academic quality, international collaboration, and overall system reputation.

Global Higher Education Landscape

At a system level, Academic Reputation plays a central role in shaping the global higher education landscape by capturing the collective judgement of the academic community. It provides a unique, large-scale view of where academic excellence is perceived to reside across institutions, disciplines, and regions.

By incorporating diverse academic perspectives over multiple years, the indicator contributes to a more stable and holistic understanding of global higher education performance. It highlights emerging centres of excellence, supports recognition of both comprehensive and specialist institutions, and facilitates meaningful comparisons that inform students, institutions, and stakeholders worldwide.

Scope

The Academic Reputation indicator evaluates higher education institutions based on nominations received through the QS Global Academic Survey. It covers approximately 7,000 institutions worldwide that are recognised and identifiable within the global academic landscape. Institutions included are those that receive valid nominations from academic respondents, reflecting perceived excellence in teaching and research within specific subject areas and regions of familiarity.

The indicator draws on responses from many thousands of academics globally, across a wide range of disciplines, career stages, and geographic locations, ensuring broad and diverse representation of academic opinion.

Inclusion / Exclusion Rules

Inclusion:

• Institutions that receive valid, verified nominations from eligible academic respondents in the QS Global Academic Survey.
• Institutions recognised within the QS institutional universe and mapped to subject areas and geographic regions.
• Nominations provided by academics based on declared subject expertise and regional familiarity.
• Responses collected over a five-year period, with applied weighting to prioritise more recent data.

Exclusion:

• Self-nominations: academic respondents are not permitted to select their own institution.
• Invalid or incomplete survey responses that fail data quality, validation, or integrity checks.
• Institutions that do not receive a sufficient volume of credible nominations to support robust analysis.
• Responses outside the respondent’s declared area of expertise or geographic familiarity, where filtering rules apply.

This approach ensures that the indicator reflects credible, peer-informed assessments of academic excellence, while maintaining consistency, comparability, and resistance to manipulation.

QS Global Academic Survey

Primary data source capturing academic nominations, respondent characteristics, subject expertise, and regional familiarity. Used to derive institutional reputation scores.

Institutional Contact Lists

Contact details of academic respondents provided by institutions (up to 400 contacts). Used to support survey distribution and broaden respondent base.

Calculation Summary

The Academic Reputation score is derived from the aggregation of validated academic survey nominations over a five-year period. Responses are filtered based on respondent expertise and geographic familiarity, weighted to favour recent data, and adjusted to ensure fair representation across disciplines and regions. Statistical transformations are then applied to standardise results and produce a comparable institutional score reflecting global academic perception.

Once the responses to the Academic Survey have been processed, we apply the following for all of the nominations for each of our five broad faculty areas (World University Rankings, University Rankings by Region or Faculty Rankings) or for each of our individual narrow subject areas (Subject Rankings).

Project Rules

QS World University Rankings and QS University Rankings by Region

In our World University Rankings and University Rankings by Region the following rules are applied:

• The scores across the five faculty areas are combined with an equal weighting.
• The assumption is that, in a typical international comprehensive university, each of these faculty areas represents a roughly equitable share of activity.

QS Subject Rankings

In our Subject Rankings, to stop institutions with a strong overall reputation getting an unfair advantage and to highlight specialist institutions, the following rules are applied:

• Academic reputation in the specific subject is compared to academic reputation in the relevant faculty area (Subject Rankings).
• Academic reputation in the specific faculty is compared to overall academic reputation (Faculty Rankings).
• An extra boost may be applied to institutions identified as Specialists if they offer academic programs in the relevant subject or faculty area.
• Responses from academics expressing knowledge of a single specific discipline are weighted higher.
• Weightings are applied based on the location with which respondents consider themselves familiar.

QS Business School Rankings

In our Business School Rankings, the following rules are applied:

• Analysis is not split by faculty area.
• Regional weighting is not applied.
• Standalone business schools that receive nominations are boosted to combat the advantage that affiliate/child schools have due to the halo effect that may exist from the parent institution.
• If a business school or its parent institution is nominated in the main section of the survey in one of the below business-related subject areas, it receives a boost to reflect its broader brand awareness.
  • Global MBA Rankings - Accounting and Finance, Business and Management Studies, Marketing
  • Master's in Management - Accounting and Finance, Business and Management Studies, Economics and Econometrics, Marketing
  • Master's in Finance - Accounting and Finance, Business and Management Studies, Economics and Econometrics
  • Master's in Business Analytics - Business and Management Studies, Computer Science, Economics and Econometrics, Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research
  • Master's in Marketing - Business and Management Studies, Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Marketing, Statistics and Operational Research
  • Master's in Supply Chain Management - Accounting and Finance, Business and Management Studies, Economics and Econometrics,  Statistics and Operational Research
  • Online MBA Rankings (OMBA) - Accounting and Finance, Business and Management Studies, Marketing
  • Executive MBA Rankings (EMBA) - Accounting and Finance, Business and Management Studies, Marketing

QS International Trade Ranking

In our International Trade Rankings we use nominations from the following subject areas:

• Business and Management
• Accounting and Finance
• Economics

Scoring and Transformation Rules

International Weighted Count

• A weighted count of international nominations for each institution based on regional and country-level knowledge of a respondent, as well as a year of response.

Regional Familiarity and Faculty Knowledge Weights

• Weightings are applied based on the regional and faculty familiarity of respondents. Respondents are able to relate to more than one region.
• If a respondent recommends an institution out of their regional or faculty familiarity the nomination has a lower weighting.
• The aim is to ensure that over-represented areas are not obscuring nominations from less represented areas.

Country Weights *

* not applicable for QS World University Rankings and QS University Rankings by Region

• Weightings are applied based on the location with which respondents consider themselves familiar.
• The number of institutions in a country with international nominations is compared to the number of nominators from that country. Locations with a low participation rate are exempted from this to avoid small number effects.

Year Weights

• We use a combined total of the last FIVE years of survey nominations.
• The oldest nominations (5th year) are weighted at 25%, the 4th year is weighted at 50% and the most recent three years at full 100% weight.

Domestic Weighted Count

• Derive a weighted count of domestic nominations for each institution (excluding self-nominations).
• This is adjusted against the number of institutions from that country with a certain level of international nominations and the total volume of responses from that country.
• This is to reflect the fact that institutions in larger countries with more recognized institutions face more competition for nominations.

Normalizing and Transformation

• We normalize both domestic and international count to achieve a score out of 100.
• The two scores are combined with the relevant weights (see Methodology)
• Transformation techniques are applied to minimize the impact of outliers and scale the numbers to present a score out of 100 for the given faculty area.

QS World University Rankings

• 30% (15% - Domestic, 85% - International)

QS Subject Rankings

• 60% Arts and Humanities; 40% Engineering and Technology; 40% Life Sciences and Medicine; 40% Natural Sciences; 50% Social Sciences and Management
• (33% Domestic, 67% International)

QS Sustainability Rankings

• 1% Impact of Education; 10% Earth and Environment

QS Regional Rankings  

• 30% (15% Domestic, 85% International)

QS International Trade Ranking

• 5% MBA and Master's; 10% EMBA

QS Global MBA Rankings

• 10% (30% Domestic, 70% International)

QS Business Masters Rankings

• 15% (60% Domestic, 40% International)

QS Online MBA Rankings

• 15% (50% Domestic, 50% International)

QS Executive MBA Rankings

• 25% (50% Domestic, 50% International)

• What does the Academic Reputation indicator measure?

The indicator measures how universities are perceived by the global academic community in terms of teaching and research excellence, based on expert nominations collected through the QS Global Academic Survey.

• Why is academic reputation included in the rankings?

Academic reputation captures peer recognition of excellence, reflecting insights from experienced academics that may not be fully captured through quantitative metrics alone.

• How is the data for this indicator collected?

Data is collected through the QS Global Academic Survey, which is distributed annually to a large and diverse pool of academics worldwide.

• Who is eligible to respond to the survey?

Respondents are academics with verified affiliations to higher education or research institutions, spanning a wide range of disciplines, regions, and levels of seniority.

• How are survey respondents selected?

Respondents are drawn from QS’s global academic database, which includes prior participants and institution-submitted contacts (up to 400 per institution), as well as independently sourced academics.

• Can institutions influence their performance by submitting contacts?

Institutions may submit contacts to expand the survey pool; however, strict validation processes and weighting mechanisms are applied to ensure that no single institution can disproportionately influence results.

• Are respondents allowed to nominate their own institution?

No. Self-nominations are not permitted, ensuring responses reflect external academic perceptions.

• How many institutions can respondents nominate?

Respondents can nominate up to 10 domestic and 10 international institutions, as well as up to 10 business schools for research excellence.

• How is subject expertise incorporated into the survey?

Respondents specify their discipline and subject specialisation, and their nominations are limited and weighted according to their declared areas of expertise.

• How is geographic familiarity accounted for?

Respondents identify regions and countries they are familiar with, which determines the pool of institutions they can nominate and informs weighting adjustments in analysis.

• How is the final score calculated from survey responses?

Nominations are aggregated and weighted over a five-year period, then standardised using statistical techniques such as Z-score normalisation and square root transformation.

• Why is a five-year data window used?

Using five years of data improves stability and reduces volatility, while temporal weighting prioritises more recent perceptions of academic excellence.

• How are different years of survey data weighted?

Responses from the three most recent years are weighted at 100%, the fourth year at 50%, and the fifth year at 25%.

• How does the indicator account for differences across disciplines?

Responses are categorised by subject and faculty area, with subject-level adjustments applied to ensure fair comparisons and to highlight specialist strength.

• How are faculty areas treated in overall rankings?

In global and regional rankings, the five broad faculty areas are combined with equal weighting to reflect a balanced view of institutional performance.

• What adjustments are made in subject-specific rankings?

Subject rankings include additional weighting rules to prevent large institutions from dominating and to emphasise expertise in specific disciplines.

• How are business schools treated differently?

Business school analysis does not use faculty splits or regional weighting, and includes adjustments to account for brand effects and standalone institution visibility.

• What quality assurance processes are applied to the data?

QS applies robust, non-manual data cleaning and validation processes to ensure responses are credible, consistent, and free from manipulation.

• Why are the full validation methods not disclosed?

Detailed validation procedures are not published to protect data integrity and prevent attempts to game the system.

• How should stakeholders interpret Academic Reputation scores?

Scores should be considered alongside other indicators to provide a balanced assessment of institutional performance, combining perception with objective measures.

• How often is the indicator updated?

The indicator is updated annually as part of the QS rankings cycle, incorporating new survey data each year.

• Why might an institution’s score change year-to-year?

Changes may reflect shifts in academic perception, variations in survey response patterns, or the rolling weighting of the five-year data window.

• How does QS ensure global representation in the survey?

QS actively maintains a geographically and disciplinarily diverse respondent pool and applies weighting and validation techniques to ensure balanced representation.

• Is the indicator comparable across regions and institution types?

Yes, statistical normalisation and methodological adjustments are applied to enable fair comparison across different regions, disciplines, and institutional profiles.