New European universities ranking initiative

The European commission is inviting universities to sign up to a new international university ranking system, U-Multirank, that is intended to take a broader range of factors into account, including reputation for research, quality of teaching, international orientation and success in knowledge transfer.

Although U-Multirank is a European commission initiative, it has chosen the Centre for Higher Education in Germany and the Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies in the Netherlands to lead the project. They will partner with additional organisations to compile the data and ensure transparency, according to the commission. The initial pilot will cover at least 500 higher education institutions, both inside and outside Europe, and four fields of study (mechanical and electrical engineering, business and physics) and will publish its first results in 2014, before being expanded to more instutions and fields of study.