How we produce our content

1. Who is responsible

All BrightKey university ratings, country guides, and editorial content are reviewed by Priscilla Hanas final editor. Priscilla is BrightKey's founder and education consultant — former Chief Investment Officer at Reapra, Goldman Sachs alumna, and Nasdaq board member, with deep first-hand experience in international school selection and university admissions. She is accountable for the final content of every profile we publish.

Priscilla does not personally draft every university profile, but she is the named final reviewer of ratings, methodology, and editorial judgment. Where she has personally placed students at a university, her direct observations are folded into the profile.

2. AI use disclosure

BrightKey profiles are drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by named human editors before publication. We disclose the use of AI because we believe transparency is part of trust.

The specific workflow is:

• AI tools (including large language models) help synthesize publicly available data, draft initial prose, and produce Chinese translations.
• Every profile is then reviewed by a human editor — in most cases Priscilla or Arthur Brejon — who verifies facts, adjusts tone, and adds university-specific observations.
• Where we make claims about specific data points (endowment size, employment rate, acceptance rate), we cite the source or hedge explicitly.
• No profile is published without human review.

We believe this hybrid AI-drafting + human-review process lets us serve readers at a scale and depth that pure-human writing could not achieve, while preserving the judgment, context, and qualifications that only a human expert can supply.

3. What data we cite

Ratings and profiles synthesize multiple sources:

• Official university sources for tuition, admissions, programs, and outcomes
• Government sources for visa, post-study work, and immigration data
• Ranking publishers (QS, THE, ARWU, US News) as reference points — not as the single source of truth
• University-disclosed employment rates, graduate salaries, and financial health
• News reporting for recent events (leadership changes, funding disputes, policy shifts)
• Priscilla's own first-hand client experience placing students

When sources conflict, we favor official university disclosures and government data over ranking publishers. When we cite specific numbers, we date them — university finances and acceptance rates change year to year.

4. Rating methodology

Each university is rated across 6 dimensions (Network Strength, Curriculum Relevance, Employability, Teaching Quality, Institutional Health, Student Experience) using S/A/B/C/D tiers. Full methodology, including scoring rubrics, cross-country normalization, and FAQs, is published on our methodology page.

5. When we update

University profiles are reviewed at least annually and updated immediately when (a) a material institutional event occurs (leadership, funding, scandal, reputational shift), (b) tuition or acceptance rate data is refreshed, (c) a reader flags a factual error.

We do not fake freshness by changing dates. dateModified tags reflect real, substantive edits.

6. Corrections

If you spot a factual error, outdated data, or a characterization you believe is contestable, email hello@brightkey.co with the source. We investigate, update the page, and (where warranted) add a visible correction note.

7. Conflicts of interest

BrightKey earns revenue from consulting services, not from university referral fees, advertising, or sponsored content. No university pays for placement in our ratings or profiles. We will disclose on this page if that ever changes.

8. What we don't do

• We don't publish profiles without an original observation beyond the dataset
• We don't pretend a profile is 100% human-written when it isn't
• We don't remove critical assessments because a university requests it
• We don't accept sponsored content, paid placements, or referral fees
• We don't invent or inflate credentials — Priscilla's or any client outcome's

Questions or feedback

Questions about this policy? Email hello@brightkey.co. We'll respond.