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Rankings of countries based on rankings of universities
Bahram Kalhor
1
, Farzaneh Mehrparvar
2
Abstract
Although many methods have been designed for ranking universities, there is no suitable system
that focuses on the ranking of countries based on the performance of their universities. The overall
ranking of the universities in a region can indicate the growth of interests in science among the
people of that land. This paper introduces a novel ranking mechanism based on the rankings of
universities. Firstly, we introduce and discuss two new rankings of countries, based on the rank of
their universities. Secondly, we create rankings of countries according to the selected method,
based on the top 12000 universities in webometrics.info (January 2012) and compare rankings of
countries in 4 editions (January 2012 to July 2013). Firstly, we introduce two new methods of
ranking countries based on their university rankings, Weighted Ranking (WR) and Average
Ranking (AR). Secondly, we discuss how the introduced ranking systems, perform in ranking
countries based on the two years of data. Thirdly, we choose QS (http://www.topuniversities.com)
and webometrics.info as two different classification systems for comparing rankings of countries,
based on the top 500 universities in these rankings. Results indicate that the methodology can be
used to show the quality of the whole universities of each country used to compare rankings of
countries in practice compare to other countries in the world.
Introduction
Unlike rankings of universities, rankings of countries have not yet been the focus of considerable
study in the web rankings research. There are many countries in which most of their universities
belong to the government. In these countries, universities must follow their country policies,
especially on the internet. Finding rankings of countries based on rankings of universities help
researchers for comparing the performance of government decisions in the educational institutes
and universities.
Higher education institutions are using rankings as a promotion tool that shows their educational
and research excellence. Universities use these rankings for increasing their research performance
(Isidro F. Aguillo, Judit Bar-lan, Mark Levene, Jose Luis Ortega, 2010). Local and international
rankings have been focused by higher education policymakers (Ghane, Khosrowjerdi &
Azizkhani, 2013). Rankings of the Times Higher Education (THE-QS,
http://www.topuniversities.com/home), rankings of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (ARWU,
http://www.arwu.org), rankings of the Higher Education and Accreditation Council of Taiwan
1
Department of Computer, College of Mechatronic, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Alborz, IRAN
2
Department of Physics, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Alborz, IRAN
(HEEACT, http://ranking.heeact.edu.tw), web rankings of World Universities by the Cybermetrics
Lab at CSIC (WR, http://www.webometrics.info), web rankings of Iranian Universities (RICEST,
http://websanji.ricest.ac.ir), rankings of the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden
University (CWTS, http://ranking.heeact.edu.tw), rankings of the SCImago Research Group (SJR,
http://www.scimagoir.com) and 4 International Colleges & Universities (http://www.4icu.org) are
the famous rankings of universities.
The concept of using rankings of universities for calculating countries’ educational rankings is the
central focus of this article. We used the data from the 4 data set updates, in two years, on university
rankings of Webometrics. We produce country rankings from the January 2012 list and compare
their rankings to the July 2012, January 2013, and July 2013. WR is a web-based ranking (21451
universities, January 2014) which is published every six months. We use a list of 12000
universities from each edition. We study and discuss changes in countries’ ranks in one ranking of
universities (WR) among the time. We also compare the rankings of countries in two different
classification systems. We compare the rank of countries in the top 500 WR (January 2012) with
the countries' rank in the top 500 THE-QS (2012).
Methodology
For quantitative purposes, data of universities and research centers have been extracted from
webometrics.info and QS. Although webometrics.info only provides the latest rankings of
universities, in the last three years we have saved a full list of rankings of universities from
Webometrics.info. Webometrics.info collects data for all the universities of the world. The latest
main list webometrics.info contains the top 12000 domains
(http://webometrics.info/en/world?page=119). Webometrics’ previous editions have only the top
500 universities from July 2009 (http://webometrics.info/en/Previous_editions). Many countries
don’t have any university in the top 500 (http://webometrics.info/en/node/54) thus in the last three
years we have saved a full list of rankings of universities (top 12000 domains) from
Webometrics.info in our database. In this article, we use this database for calculating rankings of
countries. In this study, we also produce QS countries’ rank based on the top 500 QS World
University Rankings (2012, http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-
university-rankings/2012) and compare with WR countries’ rank (webometrics.info) based on top
500 WR universities (January 2012). To compare the rankings of countries in each edition top 50
world countries with the highest number of universities in the WR (January 2012) were selected
(Table 1). In this list United States of America with 2883 universities (January 2012) is at the top
and Egypt with 34 universities is at the bottom of the list. Selected top 50 countries list contains
10927 universities (Table 1).
In the end, we used the top 500 QS universities (QS, 2012) for comparing to the top 500 WR (WR,
January 2012) universities. Although Webometrics.info provides 12000 universities in each
edition and QS provides 750 universities, we used the top 500 universities. The simplest way of
calculating the rank of one country is by calculating average rank. We define the average rank for
one country as the sum of the universities rank belongs to that country divide to count of
universities.
Where AR is the Average Rank of the country and n is the total number of universities that belong
to the country. Country average rank (AR), has two major problems drawback. The first problem
is that items of each edition are not identical and comparing overlapping universities is not
recommended. In this case, exiting one university at the bottom of the rankings list makes better
AR for the country. The Second problem issue is the huge differences between the number of
universities in each country. One country with a lower number of universities maybe takes a better
position in the ranking table rather than a country like the United States of America which occupied
the most position of top 100 universities (Table 4). To address the drawbacks of the AR problems
system, we defined W as a new indicator that allows us to detect the weight of countries.
W=
(M-
n
i=1
Where the W is the weight of the country, n is the total number of universities number of each country, M
is the total number of universities number in the world’s list (12000 in this study) and i is the ranking of
each university in the Webometrics.info. W has the value zero when the country does not have any
university at the world’s list, its maximum value is M*(M+1)/2. Table 6 shows the calculated W according
to the universities ranking for the top 50 countries in WR for 4 editions of different data sets. The Maximum
W in July 2012 belongs to the United State of America with 18943854 and the lowest W belongs to
Morocco with 103988.
M=12000
Min W=0
Max W= M*(M+1)/2 =7200600
1+2+3+4+…. + M=M*(M+1)/2
Both problems of AR are solved by using W.
Results
Weighted ranking (W) provides a new way to compare countries. We can compare changes of countries’
rankings in this new ranking’s list to other official rankings’ list. Also, we can compare two separate
rankings’ lists. In the top 500 QS, there are 50 countries (Table 2) and in the top 500 WR, there are 48
countries (Table 3).
Comparing four editions of WR
Table (6) shows the ranks of 50 countries in four WR editions. Selected countries are the countries with the
highest universities number in January 2012, ranks have been produced based on country weight (table 5).
The United State of America, china, and japan are at the top of the list. The highest drop from January 2012
to July 2013 belongs to Romania with 9 levels and the highest increase belongs to Pakistan with 5 levels.
Table 1: Top 50 countries with highest number of universities in top 12000 WR list
Rank
Country Name
January 2012
July 2012
January 2013
July 2013
Rank
Country Name
January 2012
July 2012
January 2013
July 2013
1
United States of America
2883
2750
2829
3031
26
Vietnam
85
82
83
77
2
China
1114
1073
1117
1102
27
Romania
85
76
78
67
3
Japan
679
645
758
773
28
Switzerland
84
73
70
81
4
Brazil
576
490
514
366
29
Australia
72
63
70
78
5
Russian Federation
447
418
640
577
30
Philippines
72
68
64
61
6
India
378
305
382
478
31
Portugal
70
66
69
64
7
France
372
337
397
394
32
Austria
66
64
64
64
8
Germany
337
317
324
341
33
Belgium
64
56
61
58
9
Republic Of Korea
286
284
272
245
34
Chile
64
60
56
57
10
Poland
265
236
273
270
35
Malaysia
64
62
60
64
11
United Kingdom
218
203
243
257
36
Peru
63
64
64
54
12
Mexico
201
182
153
140
37
Czech Republic
61
56
51
54
13
Iran (Islamic Republic of
Iran)
178
163
161
172
38
Hungary
57
51
52
48
14
Indonesia
162
161
188
160
39
Denmark
56
49
47
45
15
Taiwan
154
153
151
154
40
Greece
51
47
49
52
16
Canada
154
148
171
231
41
Norway
51
48
49
47
17
Spain
154
139
137
131
42
Finland
48
47
47
45
18
Italy
141
123
126
132
43
Ecuador
44
40
37
30
19
Thailand
140
135
135
130
44
Kazakstan
44
37
40
41
20
Colombia
139
134
133
95
45
Sweden
43
42
43
42
21
Turkey
131
129
140
140
46
Ireland
41
34
31
36
Rank
Country Name
January 2012
July 2012
January 2013
July 2013
Rank
Country Name
January 2012
July 2012
January 2013
July 2013
22
Ukraine
112
106
184
126
47
Bulgaria
40
41
40
40
23
Argentina
98
92
96
98
48
Venezuela
37
35
32
29
24
Netherlands
90
76
78
71
49
Morocco
36
28
29
36
25
Pakistan
86
72
74
85
50
Egypt
34
34
37
34
Table 2: Top countries with highest number of universities at the top 500 QS (2012)
Rank
Country Name
University
Rank
Country Name
University
1
United States of America
99
26
Austria
5
2
United Kingdom
51
27
Brazil
5
3
Germany
39
28
Colombia
4
4
Australia
24
29
Saudi Arabia
4
5
France
22
30
Palestine
4
6
Canada
20
31
Norway
4
7
Japan
20
32
Chile
3
8
China
18
33
Portugal
3
9
Spain
14
34
Indonesia
3
10
Italy
14
35
South Africa
3
11
Netherlands
13
36
Greece
2
12
Republic Of Korea
13
37
Kazakstan
2
13
Taiwan
11
38
Mexico
2
14
Finland
8
39
Philippines
2
15
Switzerland
8
40
Poland
2
16
Sweden
8
41
Singapore
2
17
India
7
42
Thailand
2
18
Ireland
7
43
Turkey
2
19
Belgium
7
44
United Arab Emirates
2
20
New Zealand
7
45
Uruguay
1
21
Malaysia
6
46
Egypt
1
22
Russian Federation
6
47
Czech Republic
1
23
Hong Kong
6
48
Oman
1
24
Denmark
5
49
Pakistan
1
25
Argentina
5
50
Lebanon
1
Table 3: Top countries with highest number of universities at the top 500 WR (January 2012)
Rank
Country Name
University
Rank
Country Name
University
1
United States of America
155
25
Greece
4
2
Germany
44
26
Ireland
4
3
United Kingdom
30
27
Palestine
4
4
Spain
24
28
Turkey
4
5
Canada
23
29
Norway
4
6
Australia
17
30
Czech Republic
3
7
Italy
16
31
Indonesia
3
8
Taiwan
14
32
South Africa
3
9
China
14
33
Hungary
3
10
Japan
12
34
New Zealand
3
11
Brazil
12
35
Malaysia
3
12
Netherlands
11
36
Argentina
2
13
Sweden
9
37
Slovakia
2
14
Switzerland
7
38
Singapore
2
15
Belgium
7
39
Saudi Arabia
2
16
Portugal
6
40
Russian Federation
2
17
Hong Kong
6
41
Mexico
2
18
Thailand
6
42
Costa Rica
1
19
Poland
5
43
Colombia
1
20
France
5
44
Chile
1
21
Republic Of Korea
5
45
Slovenia
1
22
Denmark
5
46
Iceland
1
23
Austria
5
47
India
1
24
Finland
5
48
Croatia (local name: Hrvatska)
1
Table 4: Average rank of countries in four editions in WR (12000 universities)
AR (WR,12000)
Rank
Country Name
January
2012
July
2012
January
2013
July
2013
Rank
Country Name
January
2012
July
2012
January
2013
July
2013
1
Sweden
3487.88
3549
3400.60
3777.52
26
Belgium
6012.53
6861.61
6137.20
6830.57
2
Taiwan
3543.68
3863.19
3668.77
4229.68
27
Russian Federation
6087.01
6039.20
6584.17
7496.95
3
United Kingdom
3954.39
4178.92
4632.36
4808.39
28
Ireland
6126.20
7253.33
5610.87
5563.92
4
Finland
4375.17
4721.65
4368.21
5734.67
29
Venezuela
6128.08
6457.65
6335.03
7240.48
5
Turkey
4402.29
4604.19
4891.14
5438.31
30
Bulgaria
6145.48
6277.72
5966.25
7265.13
6
Australia
4626.54
5116.29
4472.39
4634.24
31
Japan
6221.98
6681.09
6722.61
6865.12
7
Greece
4757.35
4840.66
4466.47
4829.35
32
Indonesia
6368.83
6228.70
6030.03
6415.21
8
Italy
4840.81
5463.68
4910.41
4902.27
33
Netherlands
6393.04
6768.57
5718.88
5881.94
9
Norway
4900.67
5030.90
4839.61
5138.66
34
Ecuador
6402.30
6648.16
5075.73
7041.13
10
Thailand
4938.87
5214.03
5594.10
5126.14
35
Colombia
6442.94
6753.41
6437.93
6822.69
11
Germany
5127.90
5448.34
5275.80
5460.31
36
Switzerland
6560.88
6946.32
6219.60
7058.88
12
Canada
5143.56
5067.65
4795.67
5817.54
37
Vietnam
6680.28
6816.17
7153.72
7100.75
13
China
5265.69
5482.91
5015.54
3973.40
38
Peru
6991.29
7236.08
6891.98
7948.81
14
Spain
5422.91
5581.17
4931.34
4494.01
39
Denmark
7156.16
7948.31
7370.40
7319.73
15
Austria
5427.41
5581.36
5481.92
5979.34
40
Brazil
7167.46
7487.41
6682.19
6465.13
16
United States of America
5429.12
5787.21
5687.48
5437.92
41
Iran (Islamic Republic of
Iran)
7258.99
7651.30
6551.68
6976.69
17
Malaysia
5534.20
5111.09
4757.03
5593.72
42
Poland
7298.72
7322.05
6815.13
6995.31
18
Chile
5588.94
5551.67
4987.02
5194.88
43
Mexico
7328.01
7613.70
6499.49
6584.10
19
Portugal
5611.13
5746.15
5183.54
5418.44
44
Republic Of Korea
7349.12
6911.81
7183.57
6932.26
20
Romania
5804.34
6290.84
5799.40
6442.63
45
Ukraine
7381.49
6709.87
7249.29
7984.90
21
Argentina
5851.56
5686.82
5477.96
6267.42
46
Philippines
7863.76
7940.08
8369.33
7946.90
22
France
5857.22
6066.24
6192.60
6272.95
47
India
7964.18
8577.83
7746.40
7443.64
23
Czech Republic
5902.52
6177.15
5190
6556.94
48
Pakistan
8025.65
8549.49
7765.70
8021.74
24
Hungary
5993.70
6469.11
5949.71
6388.10
49
Kazakstan
8205.52
8323.27
7266.70
8489.78
25
Egypt
5998.91
6458.78
6697.35
5695.26
50
Morocco
9111.64
9365.50
8265.86
8413.03
Table 5: Weight of 50 countries in four editions in WR (12000 universities)
Rank
Country Name
January
2012
July
2012
January
2013
July
2013
Rank
Country Name
January
2012
July
2012
January
2013
July
2013
1
United States of America
18943854
17873913
17858132
19889656
26
Netherlands
504626
463593
489927
434382
2
China
7502026
7137381
7801639
8845309
27
Switzerland
456886
421019
404628
400231
3
Japan
3923274
3659314
4000265
3969265
28
Vietnam
452176
430748
402241
377242
4
Brazil
2783541
2702780
2733355
2025762
29
Portugal
447221
454617
470336
421220
5
Russian Federation
2643107
2635135
3466130
2598259
30
Austria
433791
425087
417157
385322
6
Germany
2315898
2212635
2178642
2230034
31
Malaysia
413811
441737
434578
410002
7
France
2285116
2229886
2305538
2256456
32
Chile
410308
408536
392727
387892
8
United Kingdom
1753944
1648411
1790337
1848245
33
Belgium
383198
335192
357631
299827
9
India
1525541
1401649
1624877
2177938
34
Czech Republic
371946
367462
347310
293925
10
Republic Of Korea
1330151
1469614
1310069
1241596
35
Greece
369375
359370
369143
372874
11
Taiwan
1302273
1253383
1258016
1196629
36
Sweden
366021
364288
369774
345344
12
Poland
1245839
1256980
1415469
1351266
37
Finland
365992
350003
358694
281940
13
Canada
1055891
1078127
1231940
1428148
38
Norway
362066
357531
350859
322483
14
Spain
1012872
978637
968406
983285
39
Hungary
342359
313578
314615
269371
15
Italy
1009446
938083
893288
936900
40
Pakistan
341794
329826
313338
338152
16
Turkey
995300
984947
995241
918637
41
Peru
315549
310029
326913
218764
17
Thailand
988558
960506
864796
893602
42
Philippines
297809
303569
232363
247239
18
Mexico
939070
923687
841578
758226
43
Denmark
271255
241579
217591
210612
19
Indonesia
912249
979807
1122355
893567
44
Ecuador
246299
231512
256198
148766
20
Iran (Islamic Republic of
Iran)
843900
828029
877180
864010
45
Ireland
240826
206648
198063
231699
21
Colombia
772432
763760
739755
491844
46
Bulgaria
234181
246661
241350
189395
22
Argentina
602547
630319
626116
561793
47
Venezuela
217261
208483
181279
138026
23
Australia
530889
503528
526933
574529
48
Egypt
204037
199981
196198
214361
24
Romania
526631
494599
483647
372344
49
Kazakstan
166957
166902
189332
143919
25
Ukraine
517273
600858
874130
505902
50
Morocco
103981
105541
108290
129131
Table 6: Rank of 50 countries in four editions in WR (12000 universities)
Country Name
January
2012
July
2012
January
2013
July
2013
Country Name
January
2012
July
2012
January
2013
July
2013
United States of America
1
1
1
1
Netherlands
26
26
25
25
China
2
2
2
2
Switzerland
27
31
30
28
Japan
3
3
3
3
Vietnam
28
29
31
31
Brazil
4
4
5
8
Portugal
29
27
27
26
Russian Federation
5
5
4
4
Austria
30
30
29
30
Germany
6
7
7
6
Malaysia
31
28
28
27
France
7
6
6
5
Chile
32
32
32
29
United Kingdom
8
8
8
9
Belgium
33
38
36
37
India
9
10
9
7
Czech Republic
34
33
38
38
Republic Of Korea
10
9
11
12
Greece
35
35
34
32
Taiwan
11
12
12
13
Sweden
36
34
33
34
Poland
12
11
10
11
inland
37
37
35
39
Canada
13
13
13
10
Norway
38
36
37
36
Spain
14
16
16
14
Hungary
39
40
40
40
Italy
15
18
17
15
Pakistan
40
39
41
35
Turkey
16
14
15
16
Peru
41
41
39
43
Thailand
17
17
20
17
Philippines
42
42
44
41
Mexico
18
19
21
20
Denmark
43
44
45
45
Indonesia
19
15
14
18
Ecuador
44
45
42
47
Iran (Islamic Republic of
Iran)
20
20
18
19
Ireland
45
47
46
42
Colombia
21
21
22
24
Bulgaria
46
43
43
46
Argentina
22
22
23
22
Venezuela
47
46
49
49
Australia
23
24
24
21
Egypt
48
48
47
44
Romania
24
25
26
33
Kazakstan
49
49
48
48
Ukraine
25
23
19
23
Morocco
50
50
50
50
Comparing ranks of countries in top 500 WR and top 500 QS
Most of the researchers who analyze rankings of universities, use the data from the top 500 universities
(http://webometrics.info/en/node/54, 2014). For the two rankings, WR and QS, we calculated the ranks rankings of countries
based on the top 500 universities list. Table (7) shows the ranks rankings of countries in QS (2012) and table (8) shows the
ranks rankings of countries in WR (January 2012).
M=500
Max W= M*(M-1)/2 =124750
Tables (7) and (8) show count the number of universities, weight of countries and total country’s ranking in the top 500 WR
and top 500 QS lists. The result shows that the rankings of two universities’ rankings are highly similar.
Table 7: Rank of 50 countries (Top 500 universities of QS, 2012)
Rank
Country Name
University
weight
Rank
Country Name
University
weight
1
United States of America
99
28147
26
Palestine
4
1054
2
United Kingdom
51
15817
27
Austria
5
942
3
Germany
39
9417
28
Singapore
2
928
4
Australia
24
6193
29
Brazil
5
900
5
Japan
20
5385
30
Saudi Arabia
4
836
6
Canada
20
5307
31
Argentina
5
739
7
France
22
5001
32
Chile
3
605
8
Netherlands
13
4579
33
South Africa
3
558
9
China
18
3431
34
Mexico
2
548
10
Republic Of Korea
13
3370
35
Thailand
2
544
11
Switzerland
8
3016
36
Colombia
4
383
12
Sweden
8
2482
37
Indonesia
3
327
13
Hong Kong
6
2379
38
Portugal
3
265
14
Belgium
7
2347
39
Lebanon
1
250
15
Spain
14
2087
40
Kazakstan
2
241
16
Italy
14
2017
41
Czech Republic
1
214
17
Taiwan
11
1864
42
United Arab Emirates
2
205
18
Finland
8
1796
43
Philippines
2
177
19
New Zealand
7
1669
44
Poland
2
177
20
Denmark
5
1557
45
Egypt
1
108
21
Ireland
7
1549
46
Turkey
2
100
Rank
Country Name
University
weight
Rank
Country Name
University
weight
22
India
7
1272
47
Oman
1
75
23
Norway
4
1151
48
Pakistan
1
75
24
Malaysia
6
1114
49
Greece
2
50
25
Russian Federation
6
1066
50
Uruguay
1
25
Table 8: Rank of 48 countries (Top 500 universities of WR, January 2012)
Rank
Country Name
University
weight
Rank
Country Name
University
weight
1
United States of America
155
47285
25
Finland
5
974
2
Germany
44
9874
26
Poland
5
824
3
United Kingdom
30
6906
27
Greece
4
795
4
Canada
23
6852
28
Indonesia
3
609
5
Spain
24
5135
29
Singapore
2
522
6
Australia
17
3837
30
New Zealand
3
512
7
Taiwan
14
3643
31
Mexico
2
469
8
Italy
16
3425
32
Ireland
4
461
9
Brazil
12
3403
33
Hungary
3
426
10
Netherlands
11
3113
34
Slovenia
1
420
11
China
14
2740
35
France
5
390
12
Japan
12
2690
36
Russian Federation
2
388
13
Sweden
9
2425
37
Chile
1
347
14
Switzerland
7
1805
38
Saudi Arabia
2
328
15
Thailand
6
1788
39
Turkey
4
265
16
Belgium
7
1659
40
Argentina
2
250
17
Hong Kong
6
1444
41
South Africa
3
185
18
Portugal
6
1371
42
Malaysia
3
171
19
Austria
5
1348
43
Colombia
1
143
20
Denmark
5
1155
44
Costa Rica
1
97
21
Norway
4
1144
45
Croatia (local name: Hrvatska)
1
54
22
Czech Republic
3
1065
46
India
1
46
Rank
Country Name
University
weight
Rank
Country Name
University
weight
23
Palestine
4
1029
47
Slovakia
2
42
24
Republic Of Korea
5
984
48
Iceland
1
19
Limitations and Discussion
Changing methodology of the rankings of universities are the study’s main limitations. Results which have been calculated
based on each edition are not comparable. For comparing rankings of universities in different editions we should re-rank
previous data with the new methodology. Characteristics of the Web are second limitation. We know search engines’
results are not stable and changing continuously. Also, data sources’ policies change among the time and providers lead
to use new data sources for attracting web statistics. Rankings of universities which are based on web data sources only
valid for the time span which they are collected and result calculated.
Conclusion
In this paper, we introduced the new rankings of countries methods. Average rank of universities (AR) and weighting
countries (W) based on their university ranks. The average rank is simple but not suitable to show a good view of countries
rank. Using W in one ranking of universities in different editions shows us the result of the activities of countries to take
better rank. The current study covered two universities’ rankings which are very different methodologies. We compared
different world universities’ rankings (QS & WR) using W. The results show that the rankings of two rankings lists (WR
and QS) are highly similar. On the other hand, deposit each ranking used different methods. This gives some confidence
that to W is a robust algorithm to rank all countries around the world.
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