The Times Higher Education, a British publication, used a new methodology for its 2011-2012 World University Rankings. It was developed after consultation with 50 sector leaders, the publication’s editorial board and website feedback. The new methodology, with data supplied by Thomson Reuters, places less importance on reputation and heritage than in previous years and gives more weight to hard measures of excellence in all three core elements of a university’s mission – research, teaching and knowledge transfer. It is also the only global ranking system that includes a section dedicated to the teaching and learning environment, including the first-ever global survey of institutions’ teaching reputations. In all, the ranking system includes 13 separate performance indicators across five broad categories:

• Teaching — the learning environment (worth 30 percent of the overall ranking score)
• Research — volume, income and reputation (worth 30 percent)
• Citations — research influence (worth 30 percent)
• Industry income — innovation (worth 2.5 percent)
• International outlook — staff, student and research (worth 7.5 percent).