Short answers, pulled from the story.
The QS World University Rankings were first published in 2004, produced jointly with Times Higher Education magazine under the name Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings. QS began publishing its own independent rankings in September 2010 after the two organizations parted ways in 2009.
QS scores universities on six core indicators: academic reputation (40%), citations per faculty (20%), faculty-to-student ratio (15%), employer reputation (15%), international student ratio (5%), and international faculty ratio (5%). From the 2024 edition, three additional indicators were added at 5% each: International Research Network, Employment Outcomes, and Sustainability.
QS was founded by Nunzio Quacquarelli in 1990 to provide information and advice to students looking to study abroad. Quacquarelli was appointed company president in 2022; Jessica Turner serves as chief executive officer.
Critics point to the heavy weighting given to reputation surveys, which account for 50% of the overall score but have response rates QS itself indicates are as low as 2-8%. Academics including Philip Altbach and Simon Marginson have questioned the methodology's statistical robustness, and a 2021 Berkeley study raised concerns that universities purchasing QS consulting services received better rankings.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has held the top position in every edition of the QS World University Rankings from 2018 through 2026 as shown in the rankings data.
QS publishes regional rankings for Asia (launched 2009), the Arab Region (2014), Latin America and the Caribbean (2011), and Europe (2023). A fifth table covering Emerging Europe and Central Asia ran from 2015 until it was discontinued in 2022.