The Global University Visibility Rankings are published by American Caldwell, a higher education marketing research firm, currently based in Washington DC.
They are based on five objective metrics related to the global visibility of universities:
- Website visitors
- News mentions
- Public interest
- Social media
- YouTube views
The overall visibility score is a weighted combination of these indicators.
The United States dominates the upper levels of these rankings, with 59 institutions in the top 100. However, universities in South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America have performed very well this year. These include King Saud, Saudi Arabia, in seventh place, Tecnologico de Monterey, Mexico, 25th, Universitas Indonesia 50th, and the University of Delhi, India, 86th.
The top five universities this year are:
- Harvard University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Stanford University
- University of Toronto
- University of Oxford.
The rankings are fairly similar to conventional rankings derived from measures of teaching and research performance. However, rising visibility stars include Hillsdale College, Michigan, noted for its rejection of government funding and a Great Books program, and Liberty University, Virginia, a bastion of conservative Christianity.
Source: American Caldwell