Abstract
This study uses the checklist method, survey studies, and Highly Cited Researchers to identify 100 highly prestigious international academic awards. The study then examines the impact of using these awards on the Academic Ranking of World Universities (the Shanghai Ranking), the QS World University Rankings, and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Results show that awards considerably change the rankings and scores of top universities, especially those that receive a large number of awards and those that receive few or no awards. The rankings of all other universities with relatively similar numbers of awards remain intact. If given 20% weight, as was the case in this study, awards help ranking systems set universities further apart from each other, making it easier for users to detect differences in the levels of performance. Adding awards to ranking systems benefits United States universities the most as a result of winning 58% of 1,451 awards given in 2010–2019. Developers of ranking systems should consider adding awards as a variable in assessing the performance of universities. Users of university rankings should pay attention to both ranking positions and scores.
Highlights
University rankings have become important in higher education worldwide (Hägg & Wedlin, 2013; Rauhvargers, 2013), as evidenced by their increasing number and the increasing number of papers published annually about them
The study examines the impact of using these awards on the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the QS World University Rankings, and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings
We considered highly prestigious awards that had over 50% of their recipients classified as highly cited researchers (HCRs) by Clarivate Analytics12
Summary
University rankings have become important in higher education worldwide (Hägg & Wedlin, 2013; Rauhvargers, 2013), as evidenced by their increasing number and the increasing number of papers published annually about them. Before 2010, there were five international university ranking systems; today, there are 171. University rankings claim to provide valid and useful information for determining academic and research excellence (Moed, 2017). Staff, and students and their parents use university rankings as tools to help them decide which institutions to apply to for employment or higher education. Governments and funding agencies use university rankings for information about the performance of their higher education
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