QS goes to Oman.

It seems that QS and THE have been quite busy lately, seeking "engagement" with various countries. QS was in Oman in September. The report contains an interesting insight into how methodological issues can lead to a university falling or rising in the rankings through no fault or merit of its own.


"A few days after the seminar, the global launch of the QS World University Rankings 2013/14 was held in Turkey, Istanbul, during which it was revealed that Sultan Qaboos University had dropped in its rankings this year too. In an exclusive statement, the head of QS Intelligence Unit, Ben Sowter, observed that most institutions in the Middle East featured in the QS World University Rankings 2013/14 have dropped in rank this year.

'Scores for academic reputation and research citations have declined across the region this year, which has caused most institutions to lose ground on the international competition,” Sowter said about the Middle East’s drop in rankings. Sowter further added that “having said that, there were over 100 new universities added to the list this year; and many of the institutions worldwide already in the rankings have noticeably improved in academic reputation. This has led to some universities, such as Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, showing a drop in ranking, even though their score may have improved relative to last year.”

Commenting on the drop of Sultan Qaboos University, he said “Sultan Qaboos University was first featured in 2011. We were initially unsuccessful in reaching anyone at SQU in order to file official numbers; hence figures that were available at the time on the university website were taken for the faculty and student numbers. However, it seems that the number used for academic staff was actually the total number of staff, thus inflating the faculty/student ration of SQU resulting in a higher ranking.

This was corrected by an official submission in 2012 by the administration at SQU. Since the position published in 2011 was unnaturally high, the drops in 2012 and 2013 have been largely corrective, rather than reflecting deterioration in SQU’s actual performance.” He added that “Analysis of our results over time reveal that institutions in general are producing more research, attracting more international research and doing a better job of communicating their achievements to the world at large. Increasingly, institutions need to exhibit continuous improvement just to maintain the same position, and a drop in overall ranking may not signify an objective deterioration in performance. Such may be the case for SQU.” '