University ranking and evaluation: Trend and existing approaches

During recent years, university rankings have gained a considerable importance not only among the academia but also amongst students, parents, industry and businesses. Common stakeholders, the students and their parents, may not be aware of the intricacies of ranking processes and elements / criteria of rankings but they are definitely keen to know the position of the University of their Interest in the ranking lists. The paper will review the trend and existing approaches of the most common and popular university ranking systems and evaluations and describe various quantitative / qualitative criteria used to determine the rankings. It will be observed that some of the criteria used by different agencies may be common in nature. The process involves various surveys besides using statistics and rankings are conducted on national, regional and global levels for institutions, departments, schools or specific academic programs. It is opined that although university rankings are considered inherently controversial for not being absolutely objective and definitive, they are still used as reference to assist in making certain crucial decisions.