Omissions

Several writers have noticed the absence of any Israeli universities from the top 200 universities. In the QS rankings this year there three. Those who have downloaded the ipad
app will have noticed that there are only two in the top 400. So what happened to Tel Aviv and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem?

There is an article about this in Haaretz.

"Haaretz has learned that most Israeli universities were not on the list because they failed to respond to repeated requests for information, including on faculty and students, which is necessary for the listing.

TAU and the Hebrew University say that they never received such a request from THE. According to THE, only the Technion and Bar-Ilan University responded with information, but they were ranked 221 and 354 respectively.

As for the other universities, the editor of the ranking, Phil Baty, told Haaretz that although it is upsetting for Israel, he hoped that the Israeli universities would recognize the amount of serious work invested in creating the ranking and the degree to which the methodology was transparent, and would participate in the initiative, like other universities have done. He also expressed certainty that next year "they will be included."

Didn't do their homework

THE says that more than 6,000 universities participated in the ranking and most provided the necessary information.

A spokesperson for the Hebrew University responded that contrary to the claim of
the survey's editors, "following an examination we did not find any such request
[for information]. When we asked for the correspondence to the university on the
subject, they could not provide it. The university is saddened by the fact that
the editors of the ranking did not carry out their work responsibly, and thus
harmed the university." "

There are other surprising omissions such as all the Indian Institutes of Technology, the University at Buffalo: SUNY and the Catholic University of Louvain (the French one -- the Dutch one is there at 120)