How is the Ivory League score calculated?

The Ivory Score is a weighted composite of 11 pillars across four families: Scholarship (14% Research, 13% Teaching), Character (10% Safety, 10% Ethics, 9% National Impact), Wellbeing (9% Global Engagement, 7% Postgrad, 7% Facilities), and Employability (12%, plus Alumni 5%, Student Life 4%). Every input is external and verifiable. The score can be recomputed from the published weights.

What are the Ivory League confidence flags?

Every institution carries a confidence flag: High through the leading group where evidence is deep and verifiable; Medium in the middle range; and Indicative in the tail where the tier matters more than the exact position. The trajectory flag sits outside the composite and is never used to reorder the table.

Ivory League 2026 — Methodology

01 — How the score is built

Eleven pillars. External evidence only. No self-reporting.

The Ivory Score (0–10) is a weighted composite of eleven pillars across four families. Research and standing are carried by public, verifiable data. The remaining dimensions are set by calibrated judgement anchored to verifiable signals: accreditation, professional-school provision, teaching-hospital affiliation and the national games. Every input is external. No institution supplies its own data.

#	Pillar	Weight	Basis	Family
01	Research & Knowledge	14%	Data	Scholarship
02	Teaching & Learning	13%	Judgment	Scholarship
03	Employability	12%	Judgment	Employability
04	National & Development Impact	9%	Judgment	Character
05	Global Engagement & Standing	9%	Data	Scholarship
06	Student Safety	10%	Judgment	Wellbeing
07	Ethics, Governance & Values	10%	Judgment	Character
08	Facilities & Learning Environment	7%	Judgment	Wellbeing
09	Postgraduate Provision	7%	Proxy	Scholarship
10	Alumni & Influence	5%	Judgment	Character
11	Student Life & Extracurricular	4%	Judgment	Wellbeing

Score Distribution

Pillar Contribution Flow

Ivory League 2026 pillar contribution Sankey diagram

Confidence flags. Every institution carries a confidence flag: High through the leading group (where evidence is deep and verifiable); Medium in the middle range; Indicative in the tail, where the tier matters more than the exact position. The trajectory flag sits entirely outside the composite — it is never used to reorder the table.

02 — Transparency

The score can be recomputed. That is the point.

Because the weights are published in full and every input is traceable, any reader can recompute the Ivory Score for any institution from the public documentation. There is nowhere for a quiet adjustment to hide.

Right of reply is free and open to every institution, ranked or not. A factual error in the data used is corrected, re-scored through the published method, and logged in the public corrections log with date, institution, what changed and the source. View the corrections log →

03 — Right of Reply

Every institution may be heard.

Any university — ranked or unranked — may challenge the data used in its assessment at no cost. Where a factual error is confirmed, it is corrected, re-scored, and logged publicly. Where a challenge concerns a judgement, we respond with the methodology and the evidence base. The same process applies to every institution, regardless of any commercial relationship.

Request your evidence base

Submit corrections or initiate the right of reply before the next cycle closes.

Begin right of reply →

The Ivory League

Eleven pillars. External evidence only. No self-reporting.

The score can be recomputed. That is the point.

Every institution may be heard.

Request your evidence base