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Times Higher Education (THE) Ranking Methodology

THE World University Rankings uses 18 calibrated performance indicators grouped into 5 areas. Each university's overall score is a weighted sum:

Indicators & weights

5 indicators
  • 30%

    Teaching (learning environment)

    Reputation survey + staff-to-student ratio + doctorates awarded + institutional income

  • 29%

    Research Environment

    Reputation, research income, productivity (papers per academic)

  • 30%

    Research Quality

    Citation impact, research strength, research excellence, research influence

  • 7.5%

    International Outlook

    Share of international students + staff + co-authored papers

  • 3.5%

    Industry

    Income from industry + patents citing university research

Total weight: 100%

Source:

timeshighereducation.com/methodology ↗

Why we publish methodology

Every ranking on this site is computed from a public, transparent indicator set. We do not move universities up or down for commercial reasons.

Where the ranking source is external (QS, THE, ARWU), we link to the original methodology document. Where the signal is computed in-house (community mention score, programme count), we explain the inputs end-to-end.

Spot a number that does not match the official source? Open a feedback ticket — we update within 48 hours.

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