Methodology: Definitions

Over the five years that QS has been involved in the development and delivery of rankings, the definitions of various terms has evolved to reduce ambiguity and improve comparability. Each data collection exercise yields new surprises and new amendments. The definitions used to derive the above measures, at the time of collecting data for the 2009 QS.com Asian University Rankings, were as follows: ‐

Number of Faculty Staff
Total number of academic faculty staff who are responsible for planning, directing and undertaking teaching only, research only or both teaching and research. Please include: vice‐chancellors, deputy vice‐chancellors, principals, professors, heads of school, associate professors, principal lecturers, tutors or postdoctoral researchers.  Please exclude research assistants*, PhD students who contribute to teaching, and exchange scholars or visiting professors who are members of another university.

* The important distinction for us is that staff counted as ‘research only’ should be academically involved in that research and should be likely to publish research outputs. A research assistant, in our understanding, is any individual who is not doing own research and is therefore not likely to publish own research outputs. Said individual is (only) involved in research in terms of operational execution, such as lab technician or equipment operator.

Number of International Faculty Staff
Number of academic faculty staff who are of foreign nationality. The term “international” is hereby determined by citizenship. For EU countries, this includes all foreign nationals, even if from another EU state. In Hong Kong, this includes professors from Mainland China. Inclusion and exclusion mirrors those for academic faculty staff.

Number of Undergraduate Students
Number of students pursuing a Bachelor’s level or equivalent degree. This excludes certificates/diplomas and associate’s degrees.

Number of International Undergraduate Students
Number of undergraduate students who are foreign nationals. The term “international” is hereby determined by citizenship. For EU countries, this includes all foreign nationals, even nationals of other EU states. In Hong Kong, this includes students from Mainland China. Please exclude all exchange students. As for language students, if the language students take up a particular language course that is outlined as ‘undergraduate degree program’ they should be included under ‘international undergraduate students’. Language students who take part in a course not contributing to a degree qualification should be counted under ‘Total International Students’.

Number of Inbound Exchange Undergraduate Students
Number of undergraduate students attending your university on international exchange programs for at least 1 semester in the last 12 months.

Number of Outbound Exchange Undergraduate Students
Number of undergraduate students, registered at your institution, who have attended another institution abroad for at least 1 semester on an exchange program in the last 12 months.

Number of Graduate / Postgraduate Students
Students pursuing a higher‐level degree (Master and Doctorate), including both taught and research postgraduates (e.g. PhD students)

Number of International Graduate/Postgraduate Students
Number of graduate / postgraduate students who are foreign nationals. The term “international” is hereby determined by citizenship. For EU countries, this includes all foreign nationals, even nationals of other EU states. In Hong Kong, this includes students from Mainland China. Please exclude all exchange students. As for language students, if they take up a particular language course that is outlined as ‘postgraduate degree program’, they should be included under ‘international postgraduate students’. Language students who take part in a course not contributing to a degree qualification should be counted under ‘Total International Students’.

Number of Inbound Exchange Graduate/Postgraduate Students
Number of graduate / postgraduate students attending your university on international exchange programs for at least 1 semester in the last 12 months.

Number of Outbound Exchange Graduate/Postgraduate Students
Number of postgraduate students, registered at your institution, who have attended another institution on an exchange program for at least 1 semester in the last 12 months