QS Stars: Find your perfect university match

In today’s highly competitive job market, employers want more than just good grades. They’re looking for graduates who can handle real-world challenges with both technical expertise and transferrable skills. They need adaptable talent who can thrive in changing landscapes. Being work-ready is a sign of your potential for long-term career success and growth, and universities have a responsibility to prepare students for this.

Compulsory category

Employability

In this category, we evaluate aspects such as employer reputation, graduate employment rate, employability outcomes (how many graduates work in jobs requiring higher education or in their field of study within 24 months of graduating), alumni impact, career support, apprenticeships and internships.

Elective category

Entrepreneurship

The Entrepreneurship category sheds light on universities with an entrepreneurial spirit, andassesses their ability to transform that spirit into career outcomes.

The most significant change to QS Stars’ methodology is the introduction of Sustainability as a core assessment dimension. 

As institutions prioritise sustainability in teaching and research, it’s crucial to examine how they are shifting towards sustainability. Sustainable universities have a unique ability to drive, and shape change through innovative practices and educate the next generation of responsible leaders.

Compulsory categories

Good governance

Good governance is the essential process of decision-making and implementation, crucial for institutions to achieve sustainable development goals. Indicators include transparent financial reporting, representation in university governing structures, strategy and risk management, and staff satisfaction.

Social impact

This indicator recognises the efforts universities are making to transform society for the better whether through charity work, human capital development, community investment and many more. 

Environmental impact

The importance of impacting positively on the environment is greater than ever before, particularly within educational institutions focused on developing the next generation of leaders and industry experts.  

Elective category

Diversity, equity & inclusion

This indicator demonstrates a university's ability to adapt and modify its processes to ensure accessibility to higher education for all students. This includes disability support, student diversity, and student organisations for underrepresented groups, among other factors.

Building on the previous framework, this category delves into an institution's commitment to both research and innovation, and its ability to provide you with enriching research and academic development opportunities.

This flexible approach acknowledges the diverse strengths of institutions and allows them to present their unique contributions to the educational landscape.

Institutions must choose either Research or Academic development, but the Innovation & knowledge transfer indicator is elective.

Compulsory categories

Research

To measure how good a university’s research quality is, we break it down into four critical areas: papers per faculty, citations per paper, research funds and academic reputation.

OR
Academic development

In the previous methodology, we only assessed institution based on four critical areas which included faculty development programmes, faculty with PhDs, learning development centresand pedagogical innovation. In our new methodology, we are adding another area, which is teaching spending as a percentage of turnover.

Innovation & knowledge transfer

Previously known as Innovation, this elective indicator assessed institutions for their innovation by having unique patents, number of spin-off companies and publication of industrial research.

Global engagement

Previously known as Internalisation, this was once a criterion within the Core criteria.

This criterion looks at various factors including how many international students and staff the institutions have, the diversity of nationalities represented in their student body, and the breadth and depth of the institution’s partnerships with universities across the globe.