Our “top” and “best” lists are designed to help students shortlist universities, they are editorial guides, not a substitute for official global rankings or accreditation.
Our composite ranking score
Every institution gets a 0 to 100 composite score built only from figures someone else published. The default ordering on our “top” pages uses it. The inputs and weights:
- Global reputation, 50%. The institution's QS World University Rankings position, where one is published (we read it from Wikidata). If no institution in the dataset has a position, this input is dropped for everyone and the other weights are rescaled; many Austrian institutions, such as universities of applied sciences and teacher training colleges, have none.
- Programme breadth, 30%. The number of English-taught degree programmes the institution lists in the national register, compared with the institution that lists the most.
- Subject variety, 20%. The number of different subject areas those programmes cover.
If an input is missing for one institution, that input is left out of its score and the others are rescaled to 100. We do not use tuition fees, student numbers, an international-student share or a student-satisfaction score as inputs. The 1 to 6 star band is read off the 0 to 100 score afterwards and is never an input. It is a reputation-and-breadth score: it tells you which institutions are well known and varied in English, not which teaches better, and it favours institutions with many English-taught programmes.
Austrian institutions are evaluated by the state on an ongoing basis, and this is the quality check we rely on and do not replace. Programme-level quality, fees and admission requirements are set by the institutions, so confirm them with the institution.
What we do not do
- We do not invent inputs: every figure behind the score is published by someone else.
- We do not sell placement, no university can pay to rank higher.
- We do not present editorial ordering as an official global ranking.
A note on accuracy
Ranking positions and ratings shown across the site are indicative and provided for general guidance. They can change year to year, always verify current positions with the official ranking bodies and the university.