The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) uses six indicators and their relative percentage weights to measure the
academic performance of universities. The sixth indicator, the universities’ per capita performance is a weighted average of the scores
obtained in the previous five categories, divided by the number of current full-time equivalent academic staff members. However, the
data sources of the number of current full-time equivalent academic staff members are not consistent for all participating universities,
which might lead to an inconsistent comparison of the global competition. In attempt to simplify the indicators, this paper uses a
stepwise regression analysis for each ranking year, and constructs stepwise regression models from 2004 to 2016. Of the constructed
five models throughout the ranking years, we find three models that have the better model fitting. Furthermore, the new scoring
formulas generated from the three modified stepwise regression models are all adequate to replace the original scoring formula. As it is
shown in our empirical study, the three modified scoring formulas all produce very similar results when compared with the original
outcomes.
Relation:
Global Journal of Advanced Research 5(3), p.95-116
