More than 100 Universities Rated by QS Stars

More than 100 universities worldwide have now signed up to the QS Stars rating system.

This new service rates universities' performance in teaching, graduate employability, innovation, access, facilities and community engagement.

Institutions range from world leaders like King’s College London, University of New South Wales and Nanyang Technological University, to small institutions that have seized the opportunity to gain international recognition for the areas in which they excel.

Star-rated universities can now be found in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, as well as the UK, US and Australia.

Institutions in Australia in particular have been quick to get behind the scheme, which offers prospective international students a far broader comparison than can be feasibly provided by rankings.

Of the 11 Australian universities rated to date, six are ‘five-star’ institutions: University of New South Wales, Newcastle University, RMIT, Queensland University of Technology, University of Wollongong and Sydney University of Technology.

Other recent additions include three Irish institutions: NUI Galway and University College Cork were both awarded five stars overall, while University of Limerick received four stars. All three universities received maximum five-star ratings in several key areas, including graduate employability, teaching, facilities and innovation.

A new approach to assessing universities

The first international assessment of its kind, QS Stars assesses an unlimited number of universities in a greater range of areas than any existing international ranking. Designed to cover areas currently beyond the scope of university league tables, rankings expert Dr Ellen Hazelkorn of Dublin Institute of Technology has called the system “a smart and inevitable development in the higher education knowledge business”.

“QS Stars has the potential to revolutionize the way we measure university performance”, says John O’Leary, editor of the Times Good University Guide. “It covers areas that have proved to be beyond the scope of international rankings, such as teaching, employment rates and access, as well as strength in specialist disciplines.”

QS head of research Ben Sowter states: “With concerns about graduate unemployment and rising tuition fees, students need a more comprehensive way of comparing universities than rankings can provide.QS Stars is able to provide a far greater range of evidence about the performance of an unlimited number of universities, helping students make smarter and better-informed decisions”.

“I think most universities will use QS Stars,” says Jennie Lang, pro-vice chancellor at University of New South Wales. “Increasingly, discerning students say ‘show me the evidence’. I sense that this is what the future is going to be - students wanting us not just to make assertions, but to back them up.”

• QS Stars: What universities are saying >