Reflecting on a Remarkable Year at QS

In 2017, QS experienced tremendous growth and success. Most importantly, we continued to connect with applicants and institutions of higher learning all over the world. After more than 25 years of informing business school choices and 14 years of compiling world university rankings, we have established QS as a driving force in higher education.

Our 350 employees, across more than 20 countries, deliver conferences, recruitment fairs, intelligence, ratings, IT solutions, and print and online publications to more than 3,000 universities and business schools.

Of course, we continued to unite applicants and schools in the last year. QS hosted more than 300 events with close to 7,000 booths in nearly 50 countries and 100 cities around the world. Applicants continue to turn to us for the latest news and data about the programs that most interest them. Now, they can use the QS Rankings mobile app to get information they need conveniently and efficiently.

The pioneers

One of the most heartening experiences of 2017 has been continuing to position QS as pioneers and leaders in the world of university and business school rankings. We began the year with the publication of the robust QS Best Student Cities 2017 in February. This was followed up by the QS World University Rankings by Subject in March, and QS World University Rankings 2018 in June, to name a few of the rankings on TopUniversities.com.

Also in June, QS hosted the EduData Summit, which saw more than 275 delegates from 42 countries, and 120 institutions across the world, join together to share best practices on institutional data management and usage. From rankings to accreditations, QA to KPIs, performance management to bibliometrics, the EduData Summit was established to explore how data can help make universities better. The conference continues to go from strength-to-strength, with EduData Summit 2018 promising to be a not-to-be-missed date for the calendar. 

More recently, we turned our attention to the world of graduate business programs. In November 2017, we unveiled our most in-depth, thorough rankings of business schools ever in the form of the QS Global MBA Rankings 2018. More than 250 programs across the world were analyzed, with 232 ranked. This year we included entrepreneurship as part of our alumni outcomes metric, to demonstrate the trend of graduates launching their own ventures.

QS was also the first major rankings provider to rate business analytics programs, as part of our QS Business Masters Rankings 2018. Business analytics programs, particularly, are popping up in response to serious recruiter demand for hires, who can organize and translate the sea of big data into which most companies swim nowadays.

The future of education

There is no doubt that QS will be part of higher education’s vision for the future. At the Wharton-QS Reimagine Education Awards we continued to add to the conversation about imaginative and inventive solutions for teaching the next generation.

In fact, more than 1,000 people participated in the annual competition, and more than 230 educators served as judges. Conversations at the event centered around major trends in education, including the artificial intelligence revolution by MIT and IBM.

The year of accomplishment

At this week’s EFMD Conference on Masters Programs, I addressed the crowd about evaluating masters programs from the perspective of an employer. I discussed the graduate skills gap and the priorities of companies looking at new hires. The QS Global Employer Survey was at the center of this discussion because of the insight it offers on exactly what the corporate world is looking for in graduates, what is lacking, and what they will need moving forward.

Another important moment in 2017 was the acquisition of Hobsons Solutions, which became QS Enrolment Solutions. Hobsons, which was founded in 1999, served more than 100 departments of universities in Australia, Asia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom to enroll candidates who have expressed interest in particular institutions.

Overall, 2017 was a good year for education and QS. But we expect 2018 to be even better. QS will be providing lots more data-driven research as we look to further evolve our reports, rankings and information for prospective students across the world. I look forward to seeing you at one of our many events in 2018.

What do you expect from the world of higher education in 2018?

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