University of Cologne

QS

Quacquarelli Symonds (Q.S.) is a corporation based in the United Kingdom that specialises in the analysis of higher education institutions worldwide. Nunzio Quacquarelli launched the company in 1990. It publishes the Q.S. World University Rankings every year. The Q.S. rating, which is considered one of the three most widely read university rankings globally, is approved by the International Ranking Expert Group (IREG). The institution uses six metrics, namely Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty/Student Ratio, Citations per faculty, International Faculty Ratio and International Student Ratio, that effectively capture university performance. It also publishes rankings in Young universities, Graduate Employability, and Subject Rankings. Q.S. provides an auditing service to universities, which offers information on the institution's strengths and shortcomings. The Q.S. Stars audit procedure rates universities based on over 50 different indicators.

THE

The Times Higher Education, originally The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES), is a British magazine that focuses on higher education news and topics. It annually publishes The Times Higher Education World University Rankings. It has received worldwide acclaim for its new and improved rating algorithm. Since 2004, it has provided students and their families, academics, university executives, governments, and businesses with reliable university performance data. The performance indicators are grouped into five areas: Teaching (the learning environment); Research (volume, income and reputation); Citations (research influence); International outlook (staff, students and research); and Industry income (knowledge transfer). It also produces subject rankings and rankings for Young Universities, Impact, Reputation, And Emerging Economies.

Guardian

The Guardian is a British daily newspaper that first appeared in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian and was renamed The Guardian in 1959. The Guardian University Guide is published once a year. The goal of the University Guide is to show how each university's department is likely to provide an overall beneficial experience to future students, and to do so; they look at how previous students in the department fared. A league table was created using nine performance criteria for 54 disciplines spanning all stages of the student life cycle. Entry standards, Student-staff ratios, Expenditure per student, Continuation, Student satisfaction, Value Added, Standardisation, Subject Classification, and Career Prospects are the indicators utilised by the organisation.

USN

U.S. News & World Report is American news, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis publication. It began in 1948 as a merger of the weekly newspaper U.S. News and the worldwide weekly magazine World Report. The company's rankings of Best Global universities are well-known among the wider population and significantly impact admission trends. The inaugural "America's Best Colleges" report was released by the U.S. News & World Report in 1983. Since 1985, the rankings have been produced and published annually. The magazine U.S. News & World Report rankings are based on data collected from educational institutions through an annual survey, government and third-party data sources, and school websites. It also takes into account outside opinion polls of university faculty and administrators.