Like most university rankings, QS is no less worthless than the rest for undergraduate engineering. It relies HEAVILY on institutional REPUTATION, not rating. This is determined by what’s published. It also relies on literature citations, a derivative of publications. Rankings purport to be judging the undergraduate experience, when in reality, the methodologies are mostly built around what their PhD programs produce.
The USNWR is no less skewed towards doctoral research.
What then happens is that great schools that do not have doctoral programs, like Harvey Mudd, Cal Poly, Olin, etc. get ranked lower or unranked completely.
Rankings have ruined the college seeking experience for most who simply don’t know better.