QS defends paid-for gold star addition to rankings

By David Jobbins. Quacquarelli Symonds Limited, publisher of the QS World University Rankings, has defended the use of quality marks granted to universities that have paid to go through an audit process.
Universities apply to be audited and pay for a process that judges them across 51 criteria that can lead to the award of up to five QS 'stars' that are visible against the institution’s entry in the ranking. In contrast with the rankings, which draw on a small amount of globally available, largely public data, the QS stars system examines criteria such as facilities, access, engagement and innovation.
The stars appear seamlessly alongside the listing for each university on the World University Rankings, despite protestations from QS that the two are totally separate operations.