Ben Sowter

Ben Sowter

Greater London, England, United Kingdom
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About

As the Senior Vice President of Institutional Performance at QS, a world leading provider…

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Contributions

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Activity

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Experience

Education

  • University of Nottingham Graphic

    University of Nottingham

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    Activities and Societies: AIESEC (President), Debating Society (Chairman)

    Graduated from the University of Nottingham in Computer Science after a dalliance with Civil Engineering, heavily involved in extra-curricular stuff - in particular AIESEC for which, amongst other things, I was Local Committee President for a year, and the Debating Society where I spent a year as Chairman and led a team at inter-varsity level.

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Publications

  • Ranking World Universities: A Decade of Refinement, and the Road Ahead

    World University Rankings and the Future of Higher Education - IGI Global

    One of the recurrent criticisms levelled against rankings is that they are simplistic and reductionist. Yet, from the user perspective, this ‘simplicity’ yields important advantages when rankings are contributing to decision-making. To encompass these two opposing views, QS has sought to maintain a critical and self-reflective stance, continuously concerned with methodological improvement to its portfolio of rankings and ratings, while striving to provide an accurate and practical…

    One of the recurrent criticisms levelled against rankings is that they are simplistic and reductionist. Yet, from the user perspective, this ‘simplicity’ yields important advantages when rankings are contributing to decision-making. To encompass these two opposing views, QS has sought to maintain a critical and self-reflective stance, continuously concerned with methodological improvement to its portfolio of rankings and ratings, while striving to provide an accurate and practical representation of the complexity of higher education institutions worldwide. Over the last decade, such analysis, both critical and salutary, has resulted in key refinements in the QS Rankings methodology, including the introduction of new regional and subject-driven rankings. Our chapter sets out to explain how various aspects of institutional performance are conceptualised and measured in a practical and operational framework for rankings purposes, and how these measurements have evolved. Further issues, currently under investigation for the improvement of the QS Rankings and their indicators, are also addressed.

    Other authors
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  • Handbook of Research on Higher Education in the MENA Region: Policy and Practice

    IGI Global

    As the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region becomes increasingly intertwined in the global economy, investment continues to be made in the educational sector. Multidimensional approaches to higher education have greatly influenced the state of business and government in the region.

    Handbook of Research on Higher Education in the MENA Region: Policy and Practice examines the need for a paradigm shift in the area of post-secondary education and innovation in the emerging, yet…

    As the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region becomes increasingly intertwined in the global economy, investment continues to be made in the educational sector. Multidimensional approaches to higher education have greatly influenced the state of business and government in the region.

    Handbook of Research on Higher Education in the MENA Region: Policy and Practice examines the need for a paradigm shift in the area of post-secondary education and innovation in the emerging, yet relatively understudied, MENA region. This book is a comprehensive reference work for researchers, students, educators, and professionals who are interested in exploring how global higher education is influencing the prosperity and progress of the MENA region.

    Other authors
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  • Rankings and Accountability in Higher Education: Uses and Misuses

    UNESCO

    A new UNESCO publication, Rankings and Accountability in Higher Education: Uses and Misuses, debates the pros and cons of classifying universities. It brings together the people behind university rankings and their critics to debate the uses and misuses of existing rankings.

    Other authors
    • Professor Ellen hazelkorn
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  • QS Global Employer Survey 2011: How employers value an international study experience

    QS Intelligence Unit

    Internationally mobile students and their families make major investments in their education abroad and then hope for the best when it comes to competing for jobs. Now the evidence is in as the 2011 QS Global Employer survey of over 10,000 recruiters worldwide clearly shows that they are looking for the skills and experience delivered through the overseas study experience when hiring graduates.

    Other authors
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Courses

  • Compilers

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  • Computer Communications and Networks

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  • Computer Systems Architecture

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  • Database Design

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  • Digital Systems Design

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  • History of Computing

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  • Introduction to Programming

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  • Introductory HTML

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  • Introductory Management Accounting

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  • Mathematics for Computing

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  • Object-Oriented Programming

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  • Operating Systems

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  • Time Management

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  • User Interface Design

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Projects

  • QS Analytics

    - Present

    QS Analytics is an evolving suite of diagnostic tools designed to assess a university's performance with respect to a self-selected group of it's own peers. Delivered using the latest data visualisation technology it provides a series of interactive dashboards placing detailed insight into a range of key perfromance areas at the fingertips of university leadership and planning personnel. Within the suite are currently offered four key applications:
    - Rankings Tracker - providing a detailed…

    QS Analytics is an evolving suite of diagnostic tools designed to assess a university's performance with respect to a self-selected group of it's own peers. Delivered using the latest data visualisation technology it provides a series of interactive dashboards placing detailed insight into a range of key perfromance areas at the fingertips of university leadership and planning personnel. Within the suite are currently offered four key applications:
    - Rankings Tracker - providing a detailed dive into rankings results indicator by indicator with respect to selected peers
    - Subject Rankings Tracker - examining perfromance in over 45 distinct discipline areas
    - Academic Reputation Tracker - a detailed view on the academic reputation of institutions built from over 70,000 responses to the QS Global Academic Survey
    - Employer Reputation Tracker - a detailed view on the employer reputation of institutions built from over 40,000 responses to the QS Global Employer Survey

    Other creators
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  • Reimagine Education

    - Present

    An international awards program run in cooperation with the Wharton School of Business to recognize excellence and innovation in higher education teaching and pedagogy culminating in an inspiring best-practice sharing conference at which finalists are profiled and winners are announced - hosted in year one on the University of Pennsylvania's Campus in Philadelphia.

    Other creators
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  • QS Stars

    - Present

    QS Stars is a relatively new concept in the international university evaluation area. It is designed to enable us to work closely with an institution to develop a detailed evaluation of an institution - similar to an accreditation - but also to deliver simple but insightful information to prospective students from an independent standpoint. Evaluated institutions are awarded a number of stars overall, but also in each of up to twelve distinct subcategories - enabling institutions who may not…

    QS Stars is a relatively new concept in the international university evaluation area. It is designed to enable us to work closely with an institution to develop a detailed evaluation of an institution - similar to an accreditation - but also to deliver simple but insightful information to prospective students from an independent standpoint. Evaluated institutions are awarded a number of stars overall, but also in each of up to twelve distinct subcategories - enabling institutions who may not feel able to compete with Harvard in research, still to shine for the things they are best at. To date (December 2012) over 140 institutions in 30 countries have adopted the standard and are using their results in increasingly inventive ways.

    Other creators
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  • QS World University Rankings

    - Present

    The first international university ranking to take into accounts factors other than research. Now the most widely referenced (according to reliable third party statistics) comparative evaluation of international universities released every September.

    Other creators
    See project

  • QSIU Benchmarking Service

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    The QS Intelligence Unit offers a customized benchmarking service for institutions interested in understanding in detail their current position in international university rankings with respect to a selected number of key, rivals, partners or peers. The service typically runs for three years and each year provides a detailed comparative report with new insights into the relative performance of the selected institutions.

    Other creators
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Honors & Awards

  • 2016 Higher Education Power List - #40

    Wonk HE

    "The 2016 Higher Education Power List represents the top 50 movers and shakers in UK higher education today.

    Who has the most influence over the sector? Who will be instrumental in shaping its future? Now for the second year running, the HE Power List brings you the top 50 names that set the agenda – often behind the scenes, sometimes in full view, inside and outside universities and across the world of politics and policy."

    It makes for a nice list to have this a list of people…

    "The 2016 Higher Education Power List represents the top 50 movers and shakers in UK higher education today.

    Who has the most influence over the sector? Who will be instrumental in shaping its future? Now for the second year running, the HE Power List brings you the top 50 names that set the agenda – often behind the scenes, sometimes in full view, inside and outside universities and across the world of politics and policy."

    It makes for a nice list to have this a list of people, but really it's the product of a team effort around the QS World University Rankings for many years.

    http://wonkhe.com/2016-higher-education-powerlist/

Languages

  • English

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Organizations

  • Association for Institutional Research

    Member

    - Present

  • IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking & Excellence

    Executive Committee Member

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    The IREG (International Ranking Expert Group) Observatory is a membership organization formalized from an informal group of university ranking stakeholders in 2010. Its membership include institutions, ranking organizations, independent experts and institutions themselves. They run a Biennial conference and as of 2012 the only independent audit of university ranking systems. Find out more on http://ireg-observatory.org/ Elected to Exeuctive Committee in May 2018.

  • Institute of Directors

    Member

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