Quacquarelli Symonds

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) is a higher education analyst and a for-profit services provider headquartered in London with offices in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.[1]

History

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The company was founded by Nunzio Quacquarelli in 1990 to provide information and advice to students looking to study abroad. It then expanded to include a wider range of higher education-focused products and services before partnering with THE in 2004 to create the THE-QS World University Rankings.[2]

In 2009, the company acquired GmbH Unisolutions, a supplier of software solutions to support higher education institutions in the area of internationalisation, especially with managing participation in Erasmus programmes. On 5 October 2017, QS Quacquarelli Symonds acquired Hobsons Solutions, the international division of Hobsons, Inc.[3] On 3 November 2021, QS acquired the web-based counselling and application platform StudentApply.[4] In 2024, QS acquired the career navigation platform 1Mentor. [5]

In 2022, the firm's founder, Nunzio Quacquarelli, was appointed as the company's president. Jessica Turner serves as the company's chief executive officer, responsible for the firm's operations and strategy.[6]

For 2023, the firm reported turnover of £50.5 million.[7]

Rankings

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Main article: QS World University Rankings

The QS World University Rankings is a portfolio of university rankings. Its first edition was published in collaboration with Times Higher Education (THE) magazine as Times Higher Education–QS World University Rankings, inaugurated in 2004 to provide an independent source of comparative data about university performance. In 2009, the two organizations parted ways to produce independent university rankings, the QS World University Rankings and THE World University Rankings.

The rankings use university reputation according to surveys of academics and employers, together with proxies such as proportion of international students an numbers of citations per publication to rank universities. The rankings have been criticized for its over-reliance on subjective indicators and reputation surveys, which tend to form a feedback loop.[8]

References

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  1. ^ "About us". Quacquarelli Symonds.
  2. ^ "Malaysia's R&D Investment Paying off with Higher Research Productivity and Improved University Ranking". Bloomberg. 5 November 2019.
  3. ^ Baker, Amy. "QS acquires Hobsons Solutions in major merger". The PIE News. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  4. ^ "QS acquires StudentApply as it enters end-to-end enrolment space". thepienews.com. The Pie News. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  5. ^ "QS acquires career navigation platform". thepienews.com. The Pie News. 1 January 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  6. ^ "Introducing our new CEO". QS.com. QS. 27 September 2022.
  7. ^ "Here's what I just found on pomanda.com - qs-quacquarellisymonds-limited". pomanda.com. Retrieved 2024-12-03.
  8. ^ Redden, Elizabeth. "Scrutiny of QS Rankings". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2024-12-03.
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