What led to Times Higher Education becoming the university rankings giant it is today?

“It was probably put together simply because if you are in journalism, putting lists in a newspaper is a great idea,” answered Duncan Ross, data and analytics director at TES Global, the company behind the THE magazine, at the Australian International Education Conference. “If you put a list in newspaper … people come to your newspaper [and] read your newspaper, to agree with the list, disagree with the list, wonder why they're not on the list or why they're not higher up, etc. Lists are great."