University Rankings History · From US News 1983 to QS 2024

University rankings began in 1983 with US News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” — a domestic ranking for US consumers. The first global ranking was ARWU (Shanghai) in 2003, created by Shanghai Jiao Tong University to benchmark Chinese universities against world standards. THE-QS launched jointly in 2004 as a partnership (they split in 2010 into separate rankings). The proliferation of rankings since 2000 — QS, THE, ARWU, US News Global, CWTS Leiden, Webometrics — reflects the globalisation of higher education and the need for international students and employers to compare institutions across borders. Rankings have become self-reinforcing: high-ranked universities attract better students and faculty, which leads to higher research output, which reinforces high rankings.