Is ARWU ranking legitiment?

<p>Does anyone know if ARWU is a good measuring list for colleges?
Some universities up there seem to be over and underestimated…
[ARWU</a> 2009](<a href=“http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp]ARWU”>http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp)</p>

<p>Is any ranking legitimate?</p>

<p>I wouldn’t say that ARWU is necessarily better or worse than any other ranking.</p>

<p>It’s a ranking of research universities in the eyes of Chinese academics.</p>

<p>That’s one thing it’s clearly not. Chinese academics have no control over Nobel Prizes, Fields Medals, Nature & Science. Actually that’s one problem with the ranking - citation counts give a natural advantage to English-language publications, so even if a university was very well-respected by Chinese (or French) academics, it would be at a disadvantage.</p>

<p>ew… I always think that rank is a joke.</p>

<p>The publisher (Shanghai Jiaotong University) ranked itself as the 3rd best schools in China which clearly is not.</p>

<p>And it clearly overrates lots of public schools</p>

<p>@Soundwave, I recommend you to go back and look at the ranking carefully. Shanghai Jiaotong University is ranked ahead of Tsinghua University, because “S” is ahead of “T” alphabetically!</p>

<p>It is the most cited and referred ranking as well.
it is much more reliable than QS or THE ranking, especially in measuring the quality of graduate school and international prestige. According to QS or THE, Berkeley was the top 5 in 2005, but only 39th in 2009. There’s a quite obvious bias toward British universities. Such un-consistent ranking is published only for entertainment. </p>

<p>there is a real presentation given by the vice-president of Tsinghua University during a conference:
“Yesterday, we just had a meeting to discuss how to make Tsinghua a top 100 university in the world by 2030. But when I woke up this morning, the dream has become true! (laugh) Tsinghua has been ranked as a top 50 university in the world by QS! (laugh). The British people must be nicer than those at Shanghai Jiaotong University.(laugh) However, I suddenly realize that, if you look at the ranking table for the past 5 years, you can conclude that each university has equal chance to be placed anywhere on that list. (laugh)”</p>

<p>the best ranking I’ve ever seen is the one published by Newsweek:
[The</a> Top 100 Global Universities - Newsweek: International Editions](<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/print/1/displaymode/1098/]The”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/print/1/displaymode/1098/)</p>

<p>thanks everyone for their input!!!</p>

<p>No… I definitely know Tsinghua ranked 1st (or 2nd). But in China, most students understand Jiaotong University won’t rank the 3rd. </p>

<p>And I know UC Berkely is a great school, but ranks 3rd in the world? I don’t really think so.</p>

<p>But it did give a convenient tool for some Chinese students who went to UC Berkely continuously bragging (on the newspaper) that they went to the 3rd best school in the world</p>

<p>^^^Honestly for graduate programs, I feel Berkeley is that good!</p>

<p>@soundwave, firstly, do you know the methodology? Peking, Tsinghua, Najing, USTC, Shanghai Jiaotong University and Zhejiang universities, all fall in the 200-300 range. And there is NO particular order in that range!!! Universities within that range are placed on the list ALPHABETICALLY!!! </p>

<p>Secondly, the A in ARWU stands for “Academic”! This is the rank exclusive for graduate school. Different countries and regions have different cultures and traditions, so there is NO standard to measure the quality of undergraduate education.</p>

<p>In terms of graduate school, Harvard, Stanford, MIT and Berkeley are the best in the world without doubt. If you don’t agree, could you give us a better one?</p>

<p>I graduated from Peking University, and I can tell you that only the very top students (top 1%-2%) could get into the graduate school at Berkeley.</p>

<p>From what I got from local newspaper, Shanghai Jiaotong is telling people the exact rank of itself as the 3rd! </p>

<p>Don’t question my ability to read! </p>

<p>And I am talking about undergraduate study which I am applying to, not graduate program.</p>

<p>I never say Berkely is bad, but combining the undergraduate program and graduate program, it is not the 3rd in the world! I don’t want to digrade Berkely, but ranking it over Princeton? I don’t think so.</p>

<p>BTW, don’t show off your Peking University stuff, I get the invitation to go there study but I choose not!</p>

<p>“From what I got from local newspaper, Shanghai Jiaotong is telling people the exact rank of itself as the 3rd!”</p>

<p>the source, please. </p>

<p>on the website of ARWU:
National Rank
Nanjing University 1-6
Peking University 1-6
Jiaotong University 1-6
So, you definitely have difficulty of reading.</p>

<p>As what I said, this ranking is for GRADUATE program! Then you used such ranking as reference for your undergraduate study and concluded that it is ridiculous. Then it is your own problem.</p>

<p>I am proud of being one part of Peking University! does that bother you? </p>

<p>“I get the invitation to go there study but I choose not!”. that is funny… by the same logic, “BTW, don’t show off your Harvard/Yale/Stanford University stuff, there are a lot of students who got admitted but chose not!” since Harvard/Yale/Stanford does not win all the cross-admits.</p>

<p>The rankings are primarily for graduate and research institutions.
Berkeley arguably has one of the most renowned faculties in the world (near Harvard and Stanford).
Princeton is fantastic, but Berkeley has more has more breadth and depth at the graduate level.</p>

<p>Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, and MIT top the US news graduate school department rankings. Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley are super strong in almost any fields. MIT is super strong in science, engineering, economics, and business . Each of these 4 schools has more than 200 faculty members in US national academy of sciences (more than double of any other US university)</p>

<p>I think other countries hold sciences in highest regard, so if a school has an insanely good chemistry department (like berkeley), that will weigh a lot more than Brown’s history department or whatever</p>

<p>ARWU ranking is based on research by counting Nobel prize winners, Turing awards winners, Fields medal winners, and highly cited researchers, plus the publications in SCIENCE and NATURE. It is a much better and more objective ranking than THES global ranking. You may or may not like these criteria for some reason. ARWU does not intentionally boost chinese universities rankings by manipulting the data. On the other hand, THES ranking shamelessly puts a lot of British univeristies in top 20 by manipulating the data. In my view, AWRU ranking is a lot better than THES ranking. THES ranking is a joke.</p>

<h2>WHY is THES ranking a joke? Look at the following examples.</h2>

<h1>Peer review:</h1>

<h1>1 Berkeley, score 100</h1>

<h1>1 Stanford, score 100</h1>

<h1>1 Yale, score 100</h1>

<h1>28 Duke, score=98</h1>

<h1>Employer review:</h1>

<h1>6 Stanford, score=99</h1>

<h1>11 Berkeley, score=98</h1>

<h1>12 Yale, score=98</h1>

<h1>23 Duke, score=97</h1>

<h1>Citation:</h1>

<h1>2 Stanford, score=100</h1>

<h1>18 Berkeley, score=92</h1>

<h1>18 Duke, score=92</h1>

<h1>30 YAle score=91</h1>

<h1>international staff (why this ties to quality? no clue):</h1>

<p>Stanford not in top 50
Berkeley not in top 50
Yale not in top 50
Duke not in top 50</p>

<h1>International students:</h1>

<h1>43 Stanford, score=93</h1>

<p>Berkeley, Yale, and Duke not in top 50</p>

<h1>staff/students ratio</h1>

<h1>1 Yale, score=100</h1>

<h1>11 Duke, score=100</h1>

<p>Stanford and Berkeley are not in top 50.</p>

<p>Below is THES ranking result by categories.</p>

<p>In humanities, Berkeley is #2, Stanford is #11, while Yale is #5, Duke is #20.</p>

<p>In life science, Berkeley is #5, Stanford is #6, while Yale is #8, and Duke is #19.</p>

<p>In technology, Berkeley is #2, Stanford is #3, while Yale is #46, and Duke is not in top 50</p>

<p>In science, Berkeley is #1, Stanford is #7, while Yale is #10, and Duke is not in top 50.</p>

<p>In social science, Berkeley is #2, Stanford is #5, while Yale is #4, and Duke is #25.</p>

<p>The OVERALL THES ranking: Yale #2, Duke #13, Stanford #19, Berkeley #22.</p>

<p>Let me sum up. Stanford beats Yale in employer review, citation, # international students, life science, natural science, and technology, tied with Yale in peer review, lost to yale in humanity, social science, and staff/students ratio. What drives Yale to be #2, and puts Stanford so far behind? Is that due to staff/students ratio? </p>

<p>Now, look at Berkeley. Berkeley beats Yale in humanities, life science, social science, techgnology, natural science, employer review, and citation, tied with Yale in peer review, and only lost to Yale in staff/students ratio. The end result is Yale #2, Berkeley #22. </p>

<p>Now I really don’t understand what the hell THES ranking is doing. I suspect THES ranking staff are extremely poor in math at the elementary school level.</p>

<p>props seta
arwu is meaningful</p>

<p>“It’s a ranking of research universities in the eyes of Chinese academics”</p>

<p>i’ll take that to mean it’s not legitimate</p>

<p>it’s more legitimate than Times Higher Education World University Rankings</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>It’s more legitimate than the USNews’, which is a ranking of undergraduate institutions in the eyes of American magazine editors.</p>