A university ranking is a tool used to compare and contrast universities in order to find the best ones. These rankings are often conducted by magazines, newspapers, websites or governments. They can order entire universities, specific schools or departments, and individual programs. They can also include various indicators such as wealth, excellence in research, selective admissions and alumni success.

However, there is a lot of debate about whether or not these rankings are accurate, useful and fair. Some argue that they can be misleading, as they do not always take into account a university’s true mission and the differences between its students and staff. Other criticisms focus on the way in which ranking systems are calculated and the ways in which they reward certain institutions – for example, by rewarding them for being able to attract students with high SAT scores or GPAs.

With many different rankings out there, it’s important to understand how they work and what each one is measuring. Each ranking has a unique niche, methodology and data sources. For instance, QS focuses more on employability (and has a metric called employer reputation) while ARWU places much more importance on world-class research.

Some of the most popular ranking systems are the Times Higher Education (THE), Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and Quacquarelli Symonds Top Universities (QS). There are also 11 individual subject rankings by THE and QS that allow you to delve deeper into particular disciplines.