 college and university rankings are rankings of institutions in higher education ordered by various combinations of various factors. rankings have most often been conducted by magazines, newspapers, websites, governments, or academics. in addition to ranking entire institutions, organizations perform rankings of specific programs, departments, and schools. various rankings consider combinations of measures of wealth, research excellence and/or influence, selectivity, student options, eventual success, demographics, and other criteria. there are no known college rankings of student academic quality. some rankings evaluate institutions within a single country, while others assess institutions worldwide. the subject has produced much debate about rankings' usefulness and accuracy. the expanding diversity in rating methodologies and accompanying criticisms of each indicate the lack of consensus in the field.  ==global rankings== for rankings of united states universities in particular, see rankings of universities in the united states. several organizations produce worldwide university rankings, including: ===academic ranking of world universities===  the academic ranking of world universities (arwu) compiled by the shanghai jiao tong university and now maintained by the shanghai ranking consultancy, has provided annual global rankings of universities since 2003, making it the earliest of its kind. the ranking is funded by the chinese government and its initial purpose was to measure the gap between chinese and "world class" universities. arwu rankings have been cited by the economist magazine. it has been lauded for being "consistent and transparent" based on an article. the education ministers of france, norway and denmark traveled to china to discuss and find ways to improve their rankings. arwu does not rely on surveys and school submissions. among other criteria, arwu includes the number of articles published by nature or science and the number of nobel prize winners and fields medalists (mathematics). harvard and stanford have topped the ranking for years.{{cite web |url=http://www.shanghairanking.com/arwu2013.html |title=arwu ranking |accessdate
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