University rankings and their subsequent league tables presuppose higher education institutions exist in a linear hierarchical structure and that presenting information in this way is useful to prospective students. Deploying a comparable methodology t…
Category: university rankings
University rankings and their critics – a symbiotic relationship?
Despite being the focus of sustained critique university rankings have proven a resilient feature of academic life. Considering the recent moves by U.S. institutions to remove themselves from rankings, Julian Hamann and Leopold Ringel explore this rela…
Rankings affect the financial sustainability of English universities, just not for the elite
University rankings are often presumed to be value neutral, creating equal opportunities for the institutions they order to compete around fixed indicators of quality. However, highlighting new collaborative research, Roxana Baltaru shows how universit…
The Home Office plan for ‘high potential visas’ is no master card
As the UK Home Office unveils plans to attract the “brightest and best” individuals to the UK, Johnny Rich outlines how using university league tables as a proxy measure to achieve this goal is unlikely to be successful. The UK Government has announced…
A Narrative CV for Universities?
In an attempt to move away from overly quantitative assessments of researchers, many research funding bodies are turning to the use of narrative CVs. In this blogpost, Elizabeth Gadd argues that, in the same way, offering universities a narrative forma…
Love DORA, Hate Rankings?
Lizzie Gadd argues that any commitment to responsible research assessment as outlined in DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment) and other such manifestos needs to include action on global university rankings. Highlighting four fundamental critiques …
Where are the rising stars of research working? Towards a momentum-based look at research excellence
Traditional university rankings and leaderboards are largely an indicator of past performance of academic staff, some of whom conducted the research for which they are most famous elsewhere. Paul X. McCarthy has analysed bibliometric data to see which research institutions are accelerating fastest in terms of output and impact. The same data also offers a glimpse into the future, helping […]
The methodology used for the Times Higher Education World University Rankings’ citations metric can distort benchmarking
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings can influence an institution’s reputation and even its future revenues. However, Avtar Natt argues that the methodology used to calculate its citation metrics can have the effect of distorting benchmarking exercises. The fractional counting approach applied to only a select number of papers with high author numbers has led to a situation whereby […]