Uncovering Excellence in Academic Rankings A case study on the Shanghai Ranking∗

In this paper we examine whether the quality of academic research can be accurately captured by a single aggregated measure such as a ranking. With Shanghai University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities as the basis for our study, we use robust principal component analysis to uncover the underlying factors measured by this ranking. Based on a sample containing the top 150 ranked universities, we find evidence that, for the majority of these institutions, the Shanghai rankings reflect not one but in fact two different and uncorrelated aspects of academic research: overall research output and top-notch researchers. Consequently, the relative weight placed upon these two factors determines to a large extent the final ranking. ∗We would like to thank Nadine Rons, Ellen Hazelkorn and Marjorie Gassner for their insightful comments. All remaining errors are the authors’ own. †Université Libre de Bruxelles, ECARES (European Centre for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics) and CKE (Centre for Knowledge Economics). Email: [email protected] ‡Université Libre de Bruxelles, ECARES (European Centre for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics) and CKE (Centre for Knowledge Economics). Email: [email protected] §University of Namur, CRED (Centre for Research in the Economics of Development). Université Libre de Bruxelles, ECARES (European Centre for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics) and CKE (Centre for Knowledge Economics). Email: [email protected]. Vincenzo Verardi is associate researcher with FNRS and gratefully acknowledges their financial support.