Comparative Study of International Ranking Systems for Universities and Higher Education Centers

There are rankings of universities and centers of higher education in order to demonstrate their competitive position in all areas or on specific issues. The first international ranking of universities was published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University to compare the countrys'' universities with other universities in the world in 2003. Given the enthusiastic reception of the results of this ranking، in later years different organizations with different objectives released classified lists of universities and centers of higher education. In addition to rankings of universities to help students in selecting an appropriate training center، there are many advantages for stakeholders outside the university such as facilitating the process of workforce employed by the organizations. University rankings also increase the quality of higher education and research، product improvement، collecting and processing information in the higher education system. International studies show that ranking systems of universities in terms of focus، data collection methods، scope and presentation of the results differ from each other. This paper aims to present a valid methodology grading systems and their comparison with the use of the criteria listed.