# University Rankings Mega Pack Scraper (`parseforge/university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper`) Actor

Compare universities across Shanghai ARWU, THE Impact, US College Navigator and Stanford Online courses in one query. Pull rank, subject scores, country, enrollment and program lists. Built for students, parents and education marketing teams.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Other
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

![ParseForge Banner](https://github.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/blob/ad35ccc13ddd068b9d6cba33f323962e39aed5b2/banner.jpg?raw=true)

## 🎓 University Rankings Mega Pack Scraper

> 🚀 **Pull global university rankings, US college directories, and online courses in seconds.** Four datasets, one unified output.

> 🕒 **Last updated:** 2026-05-27 · **📊 1 unified schema** per record · **4 sources** · **Global**

Higher-ed market data in one shot. This combo scraper queries four public datasets in parallel: **Shanghai ARWU**, **THE Impact Rankings**, the **US College Navigator (IPEDS)** directory, and **Stanford Online** courses. Each record carries a `source` tag.

Useful for ed-tech competitive intelligence, ranking analysts, MBA / grad-school applicants, sales teams targeting universities, and researchers studying higher-ed market structure.

| 🎯 Target Audience | 💡 Primary Use Cases |
|---|---|
| Ed-tech sales & marketing | Build university lead lists |
| Ranking analysts | Compare ARWU vs. Impact methodologies |
| Researchers | Higher-ed market analysis |
| Course aggregators | Track Stanford Online catalogue |

### 📋 What the University Rankings Mega Pack Scraper does

- Pulls Shanghai ARWU annual world university rankings.
- Pulls THE Impact Rankings (SDG-aligned methodology).
- Streams the US IPEDS directory via Urban Institute mirror.
- Crawls Stanford Online courses with full metadata.

> 💡 **Why it matters:** four data sources, one keyword. Filter once.

### 🎬 Full Demo

_🚧 Coming soon_

### ⚙️ Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `query` | string | Keyword (substring filter on name; Stanford search) |
| `maxItems` | integer | Per-source cap (free users limited to 10) |
| `sources` | array | Which datasets to run |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Apify proxy configuration |

```tabular
{
    "query": "engineering",
    "maxItems": 25,
    "sources": ["shanghai", "the-impact", "ed-college-navigator", "stanford"]
}
````

```tabular
{
    "query": "",
    "maxItems": 100,
    "sources": ["shanghai"]
}
```

> ⚠️ **Good to Know:** `maxItems` applies **per source**. Selecting all 4 with `maxItems=20` returns up to 80 records.

### 📊 Output

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 🎓 `source` | string | shanghai / the-impact / ed-college-navigator / stanford |
| 📌 `title` | string | University or course name |
| 🔗 `url` | string | Canonical URL |
| 🆔 `id` | string | Source-specific identifier |
| ⋯ | mixed | Source-specific fields (rank, location, course duration, etc.) |
| 🕒 `scrapedAt` | string | ISO timestamp |
| ❌ `error` | string | Null on success |

```tabular
{
    "source": "the-impact",
    "title": "Western Sydney University",
    "rank": "1",
    "overallScore": "99.2",
    "location": "Australia"
}
```

### ✨ Why choose this Actor

| ✨ | Feature |
|---|---|
| 🎓 | 4 datasets, 1 run |
| 🤝 | Unified schema |
| ⚡ | Parallel execution |
| 💸 | Pay-per-event |

### 📈 How it compares to alternatives

| Alternative | Issue |
|---|---|
| Manual tabular open | Stale, separate files |
| Paid ranking APIs | Subscription cost |
| Single-source scrapers | No cross-dataset view |

### 🚀 How to use

1. [Create a free account w/ $5 credit](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the actor page and click **Try for free**.
3. Set `query`, `maxItems`, pick `sources`.
4. Click **Start**.
5. Open tabular / spreadsheet / tabular / tabular.

### 💼 Business use cases

#### Ed-tech lead generation

Use IPEDS directory to build prospect lists by state/sector.

#### Ranking intelligence

Compare ARWU vs. THE Impact for the same institution.

#### Course aggregation

Mirror Stanford Online catalogue into your platform.

#### Grad-school advising

Surface relevant universities by keyword across two rankings.

### 🔌 Automating University Rankings Mega Pack

- **Make** / **Zapier** - Slack alert when a school joins top 100.
- **Airbyte** - sync to data warehouse.
- **GitHub Actions** - schedule weekly refresh.
- **Google Drive** - auto-tabular.

### 🌟 Beyond business use cases

#### Research

Track Impact Rankings methodology trends.

#### Personal

Build a personal shortlist of graduate programs.

#### Non-profit

Identify HBCUs and tribal colleges via IPEDS.

#### Experimentation

Feed unified ranking data to LLMs for recommendations.

### 🤖 Ask an AI assistant about this scraper

Drop the actor URL into ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or GitHub Copilot.

### ❓ Frequently Asked Questions

**❓ Do I need an API key?** No.

**❓ Can I run just one source?** Yes - set `sources: ["shanghai"]`.

**❓ Does `maxItems` apply globally?** No - per source.

**❓ Why is `query` a substring filter?** Most ranking JSONs don't support server-side search; we filter client-side.

**❓ How fresh?** Real-time hits to upstream APIs.

**❓ What if a source fails?** Other sources still return.

**❓ Output shape?** tabular records, tabular, tabular, HTML.

**❓ Are Stanford courses paginated?** Yes - auto-follows next.

**❓ Is IPEDS year fixed?** Currently 2022 (latest available year on the Urban mirror).

**❓ Free tier?** Yes - 10 items.

### 🔌 Integrate with any app

Make, Zapier, n8n, Airbyte, GitHub Actions, Slack, Discord, Google Drive, S3, BigQuery, Snowflake, Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB.

### 🔗 Recommended Actors

| Actor | Purpose |
|---|---|
| [Shanghai ARWU Rankings](https://apify.com/parseforge/shanghai-arwu-rankings-scraper) | ARWU only |
| [THE Impact Rankings](https://apify.com/parseforge/the-impact-rankings-scraper) | Impact only |
| [ED College Navigator](https://apify.com/parseforge/ed-college-navigator-scraper) | IPEDS only |
| [Stanford Online Courses](https://apify.com/parseforge/stanford-online-courses-scraper) | Courses only |

> 💡 **Pro Tip:** browse the complete [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge).

**🆘 Need Help?** [Open our contact form](https://tally.so/r/BzdKgA)

> **⚠️ Disclaimer:** independent tool, not affiliated with any university or ranking body. Only publicly available data collected.

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

Free-text keyword. For Stanford Online used as the explore search; for College Navigator used as a substring filter on institution name; for Shanghai/THE used as substring filter on university name.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Free users: Limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: Optional, max 1,000,000

## `sources` (type: `array`):

Which datasets to query in parallel.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify proxy configuration.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "engineering",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "sources": [
    "shanghai",
    "the-impact",
    "ed-college-navigator",
    "stanford"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "query": "engineering",
    "maxItems": 10,
    "sources": [
        "shanghai",
        "the-impact",
        "ed-college-navigator",
        "stanford"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "query": "engineering",
    "maxItems": 10,
    "sources": [
        "shanghai",
        "the-impact",
        "ed-college-navigator",
        "stanford",
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "query": "engineering",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "sources": [
    "shanghai",
    "the-impact",
    "ed-college-navigator",
    "stanford"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call parseforge/university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=parseforge/university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "University Rankings Mega Pack Scraper",
        "description": "Compare universities across Shanghai ARWU, THE Impact, US College Navigator and Stanford Online courses in one query. Pull rank, subject scores, country, enrollment and program lists. Built for students, parents and education marketing teams.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "vTRgR32QMwOnJPEX9"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/parseforge~university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-parseforge-university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/parseforge~university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-parseforge-university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/parseforge~university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-parseforge-university-rankings-mega-pack-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "query": {
                        "title": "Search Query / Keyword",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Free-text keyword. For Stanford Online used as the explore search; for College Navigator used as a substring filter on institution name; for Shanghai/THE used as substring filter on university name."
                    },
                    "maxItems": {
                        "title": "Max Items (per source)",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 1000000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Free users: Limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: Optional, max 1,000,000"
                    },
                    "sources": {
                        "title": "Sources",
                        "uniqueItems": true,
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Which datasets to query in parallel.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string",
                            "enum": [
                                "shanghai",
                                "the-impact",
                                "ed-college-navigator",
                                "stanford"
                            ],
                            "enumTitles": [
                                "Shanghai ARWU rankings",
                                "THE Impact Rankings",
                                "US College Navigator (IPEDS)",
                                "Stanford Online courses"
                            ]
                        },
                        "default": [
                            "shanghai",
                            "the-impact",
                            "ed-college-navigator",
                            "stanford"
                        ]
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "Proxy Configuration",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "Apify proxy configuration.",
                        "default": {
                            "useApifyProxy": true
                        }
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```