About ARTU rankings

Personalise
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2600+

Universities analysed
2025 data

3

Global rankings aggregated
ARWU, THE, QS

500+

Universities met ARTU criteria
2025 data

400

Top universities published
2025 results


Methodology

The Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities (ARTU) is a league table based on the annual World University Rankings by Times Higher Education (THE), Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), and Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). ARTU consolidates the performance of universities across the three rankings to accommodate for performance variations due to methodological differences between these rankings, and thereby facilitates the longitudinal comparison of overall performance for the top universities in the world.

The indicator used to determine a university’s ARTU rank is the sum of its rank from each of the three rankings. It has been chosen over the arithmetic average as an indicator better suited to describe the overall performance of an institution across THE, QS, and ARWU, where the institution is compared to a different group of peers from one ranking to another. The ARTU rank of an institution is less sensitive to the anomalies in the performance of any one ranking, thus providing a more realistic position of a university in comparison to its peers.

For the avoidance of doubt, this gives the most realistic benchmark of global rankings. Simply put, if for example you’re ranked 75th then there are 74 institutions above you. If you use the arithmetic average, you cannot say that.

The ARTU ranking for a given year is based on and published after the release of World University Rankings by THE, QS, and ARWU in that calendar year. The ranking is published for the top 400 universities, considering all institutions with distinct ranks obtainable from published data, either directly or recalculated using component scores made available by the agencies (THE and ARWU only; QS doesn’t publish all component scores for all universities). In 2025, there were more than 3,000 university name variations mapped to around 2,600 unique universities. Variations in university names across agencies are resolved through a combination of algorithmic and manual processes. 


Frequently asked questions

  • For a university to be included in ARTU, it must have a distinct rank in THE, QS, and ARWU for that year. If a distinct rank cannot be obtained from published data, either directly or by recalculating it using component scores made available by THE or ARWU, then the university cannot be considered or ranked by ARTU. Because QS does not publish all component scores for all universities, any university without a distinct QS rank cannot be included in ARTU.

    Visit the ARTU methodology page for more information: https://www.unsw.edu.au/research/artu/methodology. If you believe your university should be ranked amongst the top 400 by ARTU, then please contact UNSW Sydney’s Division of Research and Enterprise (DVCR.RADAR@unsw.edu.au).

  • Prior to 2020, only the results of the Top 200 ranked universities were published in ARTU. This was increased to the Top 400 in 2020 based on feedback.

  • The arithmetic average is not suited to describe the overall performance of an institution across THE, QS, and ARWU where the institution is compared to a different group of peers from one ranking to another. The arithmetic average rank of an institution across these three rankings does not follow a normal (parametric) distribution and is generally worse than the corresponding aggregate rank adopted by ARTU. ARTU treats the data using a non-parametric approach through ordinal ranking, ordering universities by their aggregate score. Consequently, the aggregate rank of a university is less sensitive to anomalies in the performance of other universities, thus providing a more realistic position of a university in comparison to its peers.

  • For universities whose rank is published as a range by THE and ARWU, the overall score is recalculated from the component scores according to the corresponding component weighting. The overall score is then ranked in descending order. Universities with an existing distinct rank are not affected by this process. For ARWU, the adjusted component weighting applied to institutions specialising in humanities and social sciences, such as the London School of Economics, has been accounted for in this process. Recalculation of distinct ranks is not possible for QS as the agency does not publish all component scores for all universities. Universities without a distinct QS rank cannot therefore be considered or ranked by ARTU. Visit the ARTU methodology page for more information: https://research.unsw.edu.au/artu/methodology.

  • Universities formed through a merger are considered as new entities and are ranked separate from the founding institutions. For example, Sorbonne University was established in 2018 by a merger of Paris-Sorbonne University, Pierre et Marie Curie University, along with other institutions. As a result of the merger, Sorbonne University is only ranked from ARTU 2018 and onwards, while its component entities Pierre et Marie Curie University and Paris-Sorbonne university no longer exist as standalone universities and are thus only ranked in ARTU 2012-2017.

  • A university system is a set of multiple affiliated universities and colleges. For example, the University of California (UC) system is composed of several campuses: UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles etc. All university systems are individually reviewed by the ARTU data team. Where a university system/campus is featured as the same entity across THE, QS and ARWU, then the university system/campus is ranked by ARTU. However, if the university system is featured in one ranking, while its campuses appear in other rankings, then neither the university system nor their campuses are ranked by ARTU. In the above example, UC Berkeley is the same entity across THE, QS and ARWU, and thus it is eligible for ARTU. However, the University of Massachusetts is not eligible for ARTU as THE only ranks the University of Massachusetts system as a whole, while ARWU and QS ranks individual campuses within the system (e.g. Amherst, Boston, Lowell, and Worcester).

  • The arithmetic sum for all universities ranked in THE, ARWU, and QS is calculated prior to determining the ARTU rank. This means a university does not need to be ranked in the Top 400 of the individual rankings to be included in ARTU. Visit the ARTU methodology page for more information: https://research.unsw.edu.au/artu/methodology.

  • Please contact UNSW Sydney’s Division of Research and Enterprise (DVCR.RADAR@unsw.edu.au).

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