The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (WUR) are the only global performance tables that judge research-intensive universities across all their core missions. It allows for a fair comparison between institutions with different strengths and specialisations and is a valuable tool for students, academics, university leaders, industry, and governments.
In 2023, the THE introduced a new, updated version of the World University Ranking indicator namely WUR 3.0. This change could serve deeper insights into what it takes to be a top-ranked research university in the world and also demonstrate a more diversified world of research. With the expansion from 13 metrics to 16 metrics and change, it helps to provide universities more in-depth information they need to grow and improve. Not only does expand the metrics, there are also changes in the naming of the pillar name compared to that of the previous method. The THE WUR 3.0 figure can be seen in the following:
To gain a better understanding of the differences between the previous and new versions of THE WUR, refer to the following table:
The performance indicators are grouped into five areas:
o Reputation Survey – Teaching o Academic Staff-to-Student Ratio o Doctorates Awarded / Undergraduate Degrees Awarded o Doctorates Awarded / Academic Staff o Institutional Income / Academic Staff
o Reputation Survey – Research o Research Income / Academic Staff o Publications / Staff (Academic Staff + Research Staff)
o Research Strength o Research Excellence o Research Influence
o Proportion of International Students o Proportion of International Academic Staff o International co-authorship (International Publications / Publications Total)
o Research income from industry & commerce / Academic Staff o Industry Patents