This month's Rankings Watch looks at the academic reputation surveys that underpin the THE World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings

An overview of the final global ranking of the season, U.S. News & World Report's Best Global Universities 2019 and a focus on our members' performance

Universities with a strong focus on building reputation are winning the race for global recognition, according to analysis of data from the latest THE World University rankings released in mid-September 2019

The 2019 edition of the Academic Ranking of World Universities, produced by Chinese consultancy Shanghai Rankings, was published on 15th August. The Shanghai Rankings, first published in 2003, have a significantly different methodology to the other main global league tables, with a stronger focus on research metrics and no specific reputation measures.

THE released their latest Reputation Rankings at a summit in Hong Kong, giving the first indication of the results from their academic reputation surveys carried out earlier this year.

46 of the 52 W100 Reputation Network members improved or maintained their academic reputation scores compared to the previous year in the latest QS table, as the rankings season gets into full flow.

Many universities are eagerly awaiting the next major rankings announcement, with QS publishing their World University Rankings on 19th June.

World 100 members took 4 of the top 5 places in the latest impact rankings from Times Higher Education (THE) focusing on the impact of universities measured through the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Rankings Watch: Reputation has been identified as the key factor driving changes in most global universities, as identified by THE in its latest ranking

The first rankings of the year were published on 27 February, with QS releasing their latest Subject Rankings, driven by data from the QS reputation surveys of academics and employers, and research metric data from Scopus.

The beginning of the calendar year is traditionally a quiet time in the rankings business – at least in terms of new data being released.

More success for World 100 members in a new ranking from Times Higher Education, this time seeking to measure teaching quality – a long overdue innovation, given the lack of education-focused metrics in the traditional global rankings.