By: Kheng-Liang Tan
In the latest QS University Rankings released today (6 Sep), the Singapore Management University (SMU) clinched a place in the 431-440th position. It was ranked 95th in Asia.
By comparison, NUS and NTU have been ranked 12th and 13th globally.
According to the QS website, rankings are given based on numerous criteria which includes among others: Research, Teaching, Employability, Social Responsibility, Innovation, and Inclusiveness.
However, the QS rankings has been widely criticised as it uses a peer review method, which uses a purchased mailing list to get academic staff to vote for what they view as the top universities in the World.
This peer rating method accounts for 40% of the overall score accorded to each university.
There are also numerous other reasons which the rankings have been criticized for, such as the unreliability of its statistical methods.
Leading labour economist David Blanchflower has gone as far as to label the QS rankings as “complete rubbish [which should not have] any credence”
Despite the poor rankings in the QS table, SMU has managed to rank well in other tables such as its EMBA course being ranked 36th place worldwide by the Financial Times.
What do you think?