tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-335623802024-03-18T07:50:29.713+00:00University Ranking WatchDiscussion and analysis of international university rankings and topics related to the quality of higher education.
Anyone wishing to contact Richard Holmes without worrying about ending up in comments can go to rjholmes2000@yahoo.comUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1153125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-15532640241941410342024-03-16T14:34:00.000+00:002024-03-16T14:34:09.133+00:00THE's Big Bang Ranking<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-pD_y4NxdecFGU87TWsnK2Ar8cCyIqPPcd-s0-5OrC13mhtrbcR9eI-UH9iieRU9cBVUe5gp7MMzKYs0X-Us_eqaSTScCc6KkerGcCjoOu8HgmMz9iNbmAFdSVNLnbdLYusoc_BEjGyCbf5JfBEeJT9ZRK-8opsBmmTpXt9pEmrs5iSSi8JW2A/s239/download%20bang.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="239" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-pD_y4NxdecFGU87TWsnK2Ar8cCyIqPPcd-s0-5OrC13mhtrbcR9eI-UH9iieRU9cBVUe5gp7MMzKYs0X-Us_eqaSTScCc6KkerGcCjoOu8HgmMz9iNbmAFdSVNLnbdLYusoc_BEjGyCbf5JfBEeJT9ZRK-8opsBmmTpXt9pEmrs5iSSi8JW2A/s1600/download%20bang.jpeg" width="239" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Another day, another ranking. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Times Higher Education</i> (THE) has published <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/which-university-systems-deliver-most-bang-buck" target="_blank">a "bang for the bucks" ranking</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">THE is taking the scores for institutional income, research income, and income from industry and comparing them with the scores "for research, teaching, and working with industry." This, presumably, is supposed to reveal those universities that are able to process their funding efficiently and turn it into publications, citations, patents, doctorates, and survey responses</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There are some methodological issues here. It is not clear exactly how the income scores are calculated. Is it from the raw monetary data that THE collects from universities, or has it been through the THE standardization and normalization machine? Is there some sort of weighting or just an average of the three income categories? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Also, there is a chart that suggests that all the scores are counted except for the financial metrics, but the text implies that the international pillar is not counted as part of the bang that THE purports to measure.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Another issue is that the financial data in the THE rankings refers to the year two years before the date of publication. However, citation and publication data are from a five—or six-year period before the ranking is published. In effect, THE is claiming that their favored schools have a remarkable ability to send money back in time to the years when research proposals were written, papers published, and citations recorded.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">THE lists ten countries as good bang producers, starting with the UK and including Pakistan and Egypt. It does not list China, South Korea, Canada, or Australia, which should make us a little suspicious, </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Then, looking at the list of twenty universities with the biggest bangs, we see a few familiar names,<span> including </span>Sussex and Brighton Medical School, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, that have appeared in this blog before because they received remarkably high scores for citations and consequently did well in the overall rankings. Some, including Quaid-i-Islam University, COMSATS University, Auckland University of Technology, Government College University Faisalabad, and University College London, have contributed to citation-rich multi-contributor papers from the Global Burden of Disease Studies or the Large Hadron Collider project. Others, such as Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences and Malaviya National Institute of Technology, have scores for research quality that are disproportionate to those for research environment or teaching. It looks as though a lot of THE's Big Bang simply consists of getting masses of citations. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It is also possible that universities might obtain a good bang for the buck score by underreporting their income, perhaps accidentally, which would help here, although not in conventional rankings. This has happened to <a href="https://rankingwatch.blogspot.com/2017/04/trinity-college-shoots-itself-in-other.html" target="_blank">Trinity College Dublin</a> and <a href="https://rankingwatch.blogspot.com/search?q=harvard+" target="_blank">probably to Harvard</a>, although the latter case went unnoticed by almost everyone. Probably, the very high scores for Sorbonne University and Universite Paris Cite result from the special features of the French funding system.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I suspect quite a few institutions will take this ranking seriously or pretend to and use it as a pretext to try to obtain more largesse from increasingly impoverished states.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It would seem that THE is engaged in a public relations exercise for upmarket British and perhaps for US and continental universities. These are doing all sorts of amazing, brilliant, and exciting things for which they receive insufficient funds from cheapskate governments. Just imagine what they could do if they got as much money as Chinese universities do. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-20046462767644111362024-03-03T22:59:00.012+00:002024-03-10T11:12:24.011+00:00Presentation Slides <p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I am uploading some conference presentation slides. They are out of date but might have some historical interest.</span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br />1. <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/slideshows/qs-and-the-subject-rankings-comparedpptx/266608126">QS and THE Subject Rankings Compared. Moscow April 2015.</a><br /><br />2. <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/slideshows/global-university-rankings-changing-methodologies/266618263">Global Rankings: Changing Methodologies. Yekaterinburg February 2016</a><br /><br />3. <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/slideshows/international-rankings-and-the-assessment-of-teaching-a-regional-perspective/266646242">International Rankings and the Assessment of Teaching: A Regional Perspective. Doha March 2017</a><br /><br />4. <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/slideshows/international-university-rankings-and-southeast-asia/266646196">International University Rankings and Southeast Asia. Kuala Lumpur March 2019 </a><br /><br />5. <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/slideshows/rankings-universities-and-the-media-ireg/266646299">Rankings, Universities and the Media. Bologna May 2019</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/slideshows/covid19-and-developments-in-global-university-rankings/266713009">6. COVID-19 and Developments in Global University Rankings. Beijing (online) October 2020</a><br /><br />7. <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/slideshows/developments-in-national-and-regional-rankings/266646377"> Developments in National and Regional Rankings. Warsaw June 2022</a><br /></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-15165337955939671622024-02-28T00:08:00.003+00:002024-03-10T11:15:02.707+00:00Comments on the THE Reputation Rankings<p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Times Higher Education</i> (THE) has announced the latest edition of its <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2023/reputation-ranking" target="_blank">reputation ranking</a>. The scores for this ranking will be included in the forthcoming World University Ranking and THE's other tables, where they will have a significant or very significant effect. In the Japan University Ranking, they will get an 8% weighting, and in the Arab University Ranking, 41%. Why THE gives such a large weight to reputation in the Arab rankings seems a bit puzzling. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The ranking is based on a survey of researchers "who have published in academic journals, have been cited by other researchers and who have been published within the last five years," presumably in journals indexed in Scopus.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Until 2022 the survey was run by Elsevier but since then has been brought in-house. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The top of the survey tells us little new. Harvard is first and is followed by the rest of the six big global brands: MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, and Berkeley. Leading Chinese universities are edging closer to the top ten.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For most countries or regions, the rank order is uncontroversial: Melbourne is the most prestigious university in Australia, Toronto in Canada, Technical University of Munich in Germany, and a greyed-out Lomonosov Moscow State University in Russia. However, there is one region where the results are a little eyebrow-raising. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">As THE has been keen to point out, there has been <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/2024/02/16/world-universityreputation-rankings-2023-results-announced" target="_blank">a remarkable improvement</a> in the scores for some universities in the Arab region. This in itself is not surprising. Arab nations in recent years have invested massive amounts of money in education and research, recruited international researchers, and begun to rise in the research-based rankings such as Shanghai and Leiden. It is to be expected that some of these universities should start to do well in reputation surveys.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What is surprising is which Arab universities have now appeared in the THE reputation ranking. Cairo University, the American University in Beirut, Qatar University, United Emirates University, KAUST, and King Abdulaziz University have achieved some success in various rankings, but they do not make the top 200 here. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Instead</span><span style="font-size: large;">, we have nine universities: the American University in the Middle East, Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd University, Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud Islamic University, Qassim University, Abu Dhabi University, Zayed University, Al Ain University, Lebanese University, and Beirut Arab University. These are all excellent and well-funded institutions by any standards, but it is hard to see why they should be considered to be among the world's top 200 research-orientated universities.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">None of these universities makes it into the top 1,000 of the Webometrics ranking or the RUR reputation rankings. A few are found in the <i>US News</i> Best Global Universities, but none get anywhere near the top 200 for world or regional reputation. They do appear in the QS world rankings but always with a low score for the academic survey.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">THE accepts that survey support for the universities comes disproportionately from within the region in marked contrast to US institutions and claim that Arab universities have established a regional reputation but have yet to sell themselves to the rest of the world.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>That may be so, but again, there are several Arab universities that have established international reputations. Cairo University is in the top 200 in the QS academic survey, and the RUR reputation ranking, and the American University of Beirut is ranked 42nd for regional research reputation by USN. Th</span><span>ey are, however, absent from the THE reputation ranking. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">When a ranking produces results that are at odds with other rankings and with accessible bibliometric data, then a bit of explanation is needed.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-40817356982844693362024-02-04T11:30:00.001+00:002024-02-04T11:30:40.796+00:00Global rankings: the age of deference is coming to an end<p> </p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Published in today's <i><a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20240202121114196" target="_blank">University World News</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh7G-dqxFoMJJx2KiDB9A-CZKE6HAtxT1IgJk1Nq1W4XKi3WiHQ7I10jyuoEf-ESjXroRYr17FhRt8JWkYG7YTIi1At0i9VUAOI_6km6UCpsE5mEiuSjHMliJDGbPlW8uelnkHU0xwI2kRJOugX-MpqDUzBb2l3EWISbY5E9orV2HNAaxIJk0_-eQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="380" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh7G-dqxFoMJJx2KiDB9A-CZKE6HAtxT1IgJk1Nq1W4XKi3WiHQ7I10jyuoEf-ESjXroRYr17FhRt8JWkYG7YTIi1At0i9VUAOI_6km6UCpsE5mEiuSjHMliJDGbPlW8uelnkHU0xwI2kRJOugX-MpqDUzBb2l3EWISbY5E9orV2HNAaxIJk0_-eQ" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-48265020781072362862024-01-17T05:46:00.000+00:002024-01-17T05:46:38.025+00:00Rankings and the Threat from the East<p><span style="font-size: large;">Recently, we have heard a lot about global university rankings' responsibilities. Some have drawn attention to the increasing number of universities included in the rankings or the new rankings that allow universities to showcase the remarkable and interesting things they have been doing for society or the environment. There are claims that the well-known rankers are promoting global equity by including many more African and Asia universities.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps. But it seems that some rankings, particularly the two big-name ones, THE and QS, have another function, which is to downplay the rise of Chinese and maybe other Asian institutions and maintain the dominant position of the elite schools of the Global North. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The table below shows the number of universities included in the top 100 universities in various global rankings. The table is arranged in ascending order according to the number of Mainland Chinese universities and refers to the most recent edition. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Chinese universities are apparently uninterested in the rankings that supposedly assess contributions or commitment to the environment, sustainability, or equity. There are none in the top 100 of the new QS Sustainability Rankings or the GreenMetric Rankings and only one in the THE Impact Rankings. On the other hand, China does very well in Nature Index and in Leiden Rankings Publications and Publications in the top </span><span>1% of journals and fairly well in the URAP, Scimago, and National Taiwan University rankings. In short, China does best in those rankings that emphasize recent achievements in research in STEM subjects. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The UK does best in rankings that include a substantial weighting for reputation, internationalization, or activity related to sustainability and much less well in research-based rankings. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The USA hasn't really bothered with the GreenMetric and THE Impact rankings. Its best performance is in UniRank, which is a measure of web activity, and Webometrics, which is half web activity, CWUR, which includes faculty and alumni achievement, and US News Best Global Universities, which has a strong reputation element. It is not so good in Nature Index, URAP, and NTU, which are research-based. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It seems, to simplify a bit, that British and American universities benefit from indicators that measure or try to measure resources, reputation, web presence, and international activity, Chinese and some other Asian institutions are rapidly moving ahead in research and innovation.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Table: Number of Universities in the Top 100</span></p><p><br /></p><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ranking<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Country of publication<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">USA<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">UK<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Mainland China<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">QS Sustainability<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">UK<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">12</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">28<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">UniRank<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Australia<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">75<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">7<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">GreenMetric<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Indonesia<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">3<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">3<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">THE Impact<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">UK<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">6</span></p>
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<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">25<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">USN Global<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">USA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">41<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">11<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">4<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">MosIUR<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Russia<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">41<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">4</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">QS World<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">UK<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">27<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">17<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">CWUR<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">UAE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">50<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">9<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">GEURS<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">France<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">18<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">8</span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 108.45pt;" valign="top" width="145">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Webometrics<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Spain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">53<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">9<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 108.45pt;" valign="top" width="145">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">THE World<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">UK<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">36<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">11<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">7<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">RUR<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Georgia<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">38<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">11<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">7<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">ARWU<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">China<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">38<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">8<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 108.45pt;" valign="top" width="145">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">NTU<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Taiwan <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">36<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">14<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 108.45pt;" valign="top" width="145">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Scimago- </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">universities</span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Spain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">39<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">7</span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">24<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 108.45pt;" valign="top" width="145">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">URAP<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Turkiye<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">28<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">23<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 108.45pt;" valign="top" width="145">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Leiden P 1%<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Netherlands<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">39<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">8<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">28</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 108.45pt;" valign="top" width="145">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Leiden P<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Netherlands<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">31<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">36<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 108.45pt;" valign="top" width="145">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Nature Index - academic<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">UK<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">37<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">35<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 108.45pt;" valign="top" width="145">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100.75pt;" valign="top" width="134">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.05pt;" valign="top" width="103">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 74.75pt;" valign="top" width="100">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 89.8pt;" valign="top" width="120">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-63431534929461045912023-12-15T06:45:00.005+00:002024-01-08T06:42:21.087+00:00Yet another example of the misuse of rankings<p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The proliferation of rankings has led to universities selectively quoting metrics in attempts to boost prestige, student applications, and state support. A recent example is <a href="https://www.brunel.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/articles/Brunel-the-UKs-equal-first-most-international-university" target="_blank">Brunel University's claim</a> that it is the joint most international university in the UK and fourth most international in the world.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>This is based on the International Outlook pillar in the most recent edition of the <i>Times Higher Education</i> (THE) world rankings.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE is not the only ranking with an internationalisation indicator. Let's take a look at the others.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>In the QS world rankings Brunel is 9th in the UK for International Faculty, joint 12th for International Students, and 36th for International Research Network,</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>In the latest URAP (at the time of writing) it is 34th in England for International Collaboration.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>In Round University Rankings, Brunel is 9th for International academic staff in the UK, 17th for international students, and 22nd for International Level.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>In Leiden Ranking it is joint 6th in the UK for International Collaboration.</b></span></p><p><span><b><span style="font-size: large;">I don't want to denigrate Brunel in any way but the claim that it is the most international university in the UK is misleading and should be withdrawn or at least accompanied by a very big </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">*</span><span style="font-size: large;">.</span></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-52185479755505595342023-12-09T11:13:00.001+00:002024-01-08T06:45:44.723+00:00Global Subject Rankings: The Case of Computer Science<p><span style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Three ranking agencies have recently released the latest
editions of their subject rankings: Times Higher Education, Shanghai
Ranking, and Round University Rankings. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>QS, URAP, and National Taiwan University also published
subject rankings earlier in the year. The US News global rankings
announced last year can be filtered for subject. The methods are different and
consequently the results are also rather different. It is instructive to focus
on the results for a specific field, computer science and on two universities,
Oxford and Tsinghua. Note that the scope of the rankings is sometimes
different.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Times
Higher Education</span><span style="line-height: 107%;">
has published rankings of eleven broad subjects using the same indicators as in
their world rankings, Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality,
International Outlook, and Industry: Income and Patents, but with different
weightings. For example, Teaching has a weighting of 28% for the Engineering
rankings and Industry: Income and Patents 8%, while for Arts and Humanities the
weightings are 37.5% and 3% respectively.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>These rankings continued to be led by the traditional
Anglo-American elite. Harvard is in first place for three subjects, Stanford,
MIT, and Oxford in two each and Berkeley and Caltech in one each.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>The top five for Computer Science are:<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>University of
Oxford <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stanford University<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Massachusetts
Institute of Technology<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carnegie Mellon
University<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ETH Zurich.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>Tsinghua is 13<sup>th</sup>.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Shanghai
subject rankings are based on these metrics: influential journal
publications, category normalised citation impact, international collaboration,
papers in Top Journals or Top Conferences, and faculty winning significant
academic awards.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>According to these rankings China is now dominant in
Engineering subjects. Chinese universities lead in fifteen subjects although
Harvard, MIT and Northwestern University lead for seven subjects. The Natural
Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences are still largely the preserve
of American and European universities.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>Excellence in the Life Sciences appears to be divided between
the USA and China. The top positions in Biology, Human Biology, Agriculture,
and Veterinary Science are held respectively by Harvard, University of
California San Francisco, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, and
Nanjing Agricultural University.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>The top five for Computer Science and Engineering are:<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Massachusetts
Institute of Technology<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stanford
University <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tsinghua
University<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carnegie Mellon
University<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>University of
California Berkeley.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>Oxford is 9<sup>th</sup>.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Round
University Rankings (RUR), now published from Tbilisi, Georgia, are derived
from 20 metrics grouped in 5 clusters, Teaching, Research, International
Diversity, and Financial Sustainability. The same methodology is used for
rankings in six broad fields. Here, Harvard is in first place for Medical
Sciences, Social Sciences, and Technical Sciences, Caltech for Life Sciences,
and University of Pennsylvania for Humanities.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>RUR’s narrow subject rankings, published for the first time,
use different criteria related to publications and citations: Number of Papers,
Number of Citations, Citations per Paper, Number of Citing Papers, and Number
of Highly Cited Papers. In these rankings, first place goes to twelve
universities in the USA, eight in Mainland China, three in Singapore, and one
each in Hong Kong, France, and the UK.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">The top five for Computer Science are:</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>National
University of Singapore<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nanyang Technological
University<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Massachusetts
Institute of Technology<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Huazhong
University of Science and Technology<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>University of
Electronic Science and Technology of China.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Tsinghua is 10<sup>th</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Oxford is 47<sup>th</sup>. </span><span face=""Open Sans",sans-serif" style="color: #3d3d3d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The QS World
University Rankings by Subject </span><span style="line-height: 107%;">are based on five indicators: Academic reputation, Employer
reputation, Research citations per paper, H-index and International research
network.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the top they are mostly led
by the usual suspects, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, and Cambridge. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>The top five for Computer Science and Information Systems<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Massachusetts
Institute of Technology<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carnegie Mellon
University<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stanford
University <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>University of
California Berkeley<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>University of
Oxford.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>Tsinghua is 15<sup>th</sup>.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>University
Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) is produced by a research group at
the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, and is based on publications,
citations, and international collaboration. Last July it published rankings of
78 subjects. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">The top five for Information
and Computing Sciences were:</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tsinghua
University <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>University of
Electronic Science and Technology of China<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nanyang Technological University <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>National University of Singapore<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Xidian University <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>Oxford is 19th<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The US News
Best Global Universities </span><span style="line-height: 107%;">can be filtered by subject. They are based on publications, citations and
research reputation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>The top five for Computer Science in 2022 were:<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tsinghua
University <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stanford
University<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Massachusetts
Institute of Technology <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carnegie Mellon
University <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>University of
California Berkeley<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>Oxford was 11<sup>th</sup>. <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The National
Taiwan University Rankings are based on articles, citations, highly cited
papers, and H-index. <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>The top five for Computer Science are:<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nanyang
Technological University<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tsinghua
University<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>University of
Electronic Science and Technology of China<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>National
University of Singapore<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Xidian University<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>Oxford is 111<sup>th</sup> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><b>So, Tsinghua is ahead of Oxford for computer science and
related fields in the Shanghai Rankings, the Round University Rankings, URAP,
the US News Best Global Universities, and the National Taiwan University
Rankings. These rankings are entirely or mainly based on research publications
and citations. Oxford is ahead of Tsinghua in both the QS and THE subject
rankings. The contrast between the THE and the Taiwan rankings is especially
striking. <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b> </b></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-35083752241062909192023-11-24T11:31:00.001+00:002023-11-24T11:35:42.041+00:00Observations on the THE Arab University Rankings<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><i>Times Higher Education</i> (THE) has just announced the third edition of its Arab University Rankings. There has been a churning of universities with many falling and many rising. Once again, this volatility seems largely the result of methodology changes and only in part any genuine </span><span>decline</span><span> or </span><span>progress</span><span>. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The rankings are led by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) </span><span>in Saudi Arabia, which makes sense from the point of view of high impact research, although it does no undergraduate teaching. After that we have Khalifa University, UAE, Qatar University, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia, and the University of Sharjah, UAE.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">THE has introduced a raft of changes in its World University Rankings, including adding patents as a metric, tweaking the internationalisation pillar to help larger countries, and including three new measures of citations. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">They have added more changes to the Arab University Rankings. The weighting given to the teaching and research surveys has been trimmed. Field Normalised Citation Impact has been removed altogether leaving the three new metrics for research impact: Research Strength, Research Excellence, and Research Influence. Within the International Outlook pillar there is now a 2% weighting for inter-Arab collaboration. The Society pillar, unlike the world rankings, does not include patents and it gives a 4%. weight to participation and performance in THE's Impact Ranking.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>It is always advisable to look at the specific metric ranks for any ranking, especially THE. For this year's ranking we have: </span><span>Research Quality; KAUST, </span><span>International Outlook; Gulf Medical University, UAE, </span><span>Research Environment; KAUST, </span><span>Teaching; Beirut Arab University, </span><span>Society; KAUST. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There are some interesting things about this year's rankings. To start, there is a noticeable improvement in the ranks of universities in the United Arab Emirates. There are now six UAE universities in the top 25 compared with four last year and three in 2021.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Some Emirati universities have done particularly well, Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi has risen from fifth place to second and Abu Dhabi University from 39th to 9th. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The results were announced this year at the THE MENA summit which this year was held at the campus of New York University Abu Dhabi. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">That meeting also saw a number of awards going to UAE institutions, including Abu Dhabi University for International Strategy of the year. Gulf Medical University in Ajman for outstanding support for students, New York University Abu Dhabi for Research Project STEM, American University in Dubai for Teaching and Learning Strategy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> A few years ago I noticed that THE was holding conferences where they would announce results that appeared to favour the host countries. Thus in February 2015 THE held a MENA summit in Qatar with a "snapshot" single metric ranking that put Texas A & M Qatar in first place and UAE University 11th. The next MENA meeting was in January 2016 in Al Ain, UAE where in a ranking that used the WUR metrics, Texas A and M Qatar disappeared and UAEU rose to fifth place.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Another example. In February 2016 at a conference held at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, THE introduced a new methodology for its Asian rankings that dethroned the University of Tokyo as the top Asian university and placed it below universities in Kong Kong, Singapore, and Mainland China.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In contrast, the number of Egyptian universities in the top 25 has fallen from six to two , Mansoura University and the American University in Cairo. Last year's front runner King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, has fallen to 15th place.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So the holding of a summit in Abu Dhabi and a new methodology coincided with a significant improvement for UAE in general and a very significant improvement for two Abu Dhabi universities. Plus NYU Abu Dhabi, currently unranked, received an award. Perhaps this is just a coincidence or perhaps such a turnover in a single year reflects real changes, which the new methodology accurately detects. But cynics may wonder a little.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There has been a lot of discussion recently about conflict of interest in the ranking business. It is likely that questions will be asked about a new methodology so conveniently helping institutions in the summit host country.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-80966607295857891562023-11-19T14:26:00.000+00:002023-11-19T14:26:14.848+00:00How Dare They? HE Sector Reacts to the King's Speech<p> <span style="font-size: large;">Occasionally there are moments when a few casual words suddenly illuminate things that have been obscured. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">One such moment was when the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford <a href="https://rankingwatch.blogspot.com/2021/09/what-is-university-really-for.html" target="_blank">expressed her embarrassment</a> that one of the university's alumni had failed to express appropriate deference towards experts. It would seem that the a major function of higher education is not the encouragement of critical thought but the acceptance of anything that has been approved by academic experts. This was especially ironic since the claim was made at a summit held by <i>Times Higher Education</i>, whose expertise in the field of university ranking is <a href="https://scholarlyassessmentreports.org/articles/10.29024/sar.31" target="_blank">somewhat questionable</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The recent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-kings-speech-2023" target="_blank">King's Speech</a> contained a bland announcement that the government would "ensure young people have the knowledge and skills to succeed" by combining technical and academic qualifications. Also, the government will attempt to reduce enrollment in "poor quality university degrees and increase the number undertaking high quality apprenticeships." </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It is not unlikely that any such initiatives will fail to get off the ground or will crash soon after take off and even if implemented they would probably not be very effective or even effective at all.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Research Professional News</i>, however, reports that industry insiders are incensed that the government has dared to say anything that could be considered critical of British universities. <a href="https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-politics-2023-11-king-s-speech-criticism-of-universities-beyond-belief/" target="_blank">Diana Beech, Chief Executive of the London Higher Group of Institutions</a> said "it is beyond belief that the UK government would even contemplate asking His Majesty the King to speak negatively of the national asset that is our world-leading higher education and research sector."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The King is not speaking negatively of the entire sector. He is talking about proposed efforts to improve the sector. And surely the "brightest and the best" of the world are more likely to come to Britain if they think there are efforts to bring about positive change.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It seems that the academic establishment wants everybody to pretend that there is nothing wrong with British universities. That, in the long run is not going to do anyone any good.</span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-57714822992614456972023-10-21T08:22:00.000+00:002023-10-21T08:22:05.069+00:00Crisis, conflict and global rankings<p><span style="font-size: large;">Just published in the <i>Journal of Adult Learning, Knowledge and Innovation</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Crisis, conflict and global rankings</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2059/aop/article-10.1556-2059.2023.00081/article-10.1556-2059.2023.00081.xml" target="_blank">Read here</a></span></p><div class="pt-3 pb-3" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 16px; padding-top: 16px;"><div class="configurable-layout w-1" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 1049px;"><div class="content-box box no-border no-padding no-header vertical-margin-bottom null" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="content-box-body " style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="layout three-column-with-top-bottom type-index-card" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="column-group columns-1 has-centerColumn no-beforeColumns flex flex-col flex@md-row" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal !important; 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box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87); font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem;"><a class="c-Button--link" href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2059/2059-overview.xml" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007da5; margin: 0px; min-height: auto; min-width: auto; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: unset;" target="_self">Journal of Adult Learning, Knowledge and Innovation</a></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="counterData video-counter" data-datatype="video" data-docuri="/journals/2059/aop/article-10.1556-2059.2023.00081/article-10.1556-2059.2023.00081.xml" data-logonload="false" style="box-sizing: inherit;"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="bg-white border-grey border-bottom" style="background-color: white !important; border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.075); box-sizing: inherit; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><div class="display-flex flex-nowrap pl-4" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-wrap: nowrap; padding-left: 32px;"><div class="component component-content-item component-content-metadata " style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="content-box box no-border no-padding no-header vertical-margin-bottom null" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="content-box-body " style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="definition-list list-count-2 " style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"><div class="column" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-right: 64px;"><dl class="volumeissue c-List__items" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><dt class="volumeissue inline c-List__item c-List__item--primary text-metadata-label" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87); display: inline; font-size: 0.875rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.25rem; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-top: 8px; position: relative;"><span class="typography-body " style="box-sizing: inherit;">Volume/Issue: </span></dt><dd class="volumeissue inline c-List__item c-List__item--secondary text-metadata-value" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); display: inline; font-size: 0.875rem; line-height: 1.25rem; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 4px; padding-top: 8px; position: relative;"><span class="typography-body " style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="c-Button--link" href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2059/aop/issue.xml" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007da5; margin: 0px; min-height: auto; min-width: auto; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: unset;">Accepted Manuscript / Online First</a></span></dd></dl></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><h2 class="abstractTitle text-title my-1" id="d25971800e66" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87); font-family: "Roboto Condensed", sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 2rem; margin: 4px 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></h2><h2 class="abstractTitle text-title my-1" id="d25971800e66" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87); font-family: "Roboto Condensed", sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 2rem; margin: 4px 0px; padding: 0px;">Abstract</h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Global university rankings have always been associated with international political and economic conflicts. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic there were signs that scientific and academic globalism was breaking down. The pandemic, the various measures taken to combat it, and military and ideological conflicts have led to the breakdown of international academic cooperation, the formation of very different research complexes, and the development of new regional ranking systems.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-6933115863621553432023-09-01T21:37:00.001+00:002023-09-01T21:38:02.485+00:00Two Decades of Rankings: Rising and Falling in ARWU<p> <span style="font-size: large;">Most rankings are of little value for identifying trends over more that a couple of years. Changes in methodology, and sometimes a lack of access to old editions make year on year comparisons difficult or impossible. The Shanghai Rankings, aka ARWU, have maintained a generally consistent methodology over two decades and publish data going back to the founding year of 2003.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So it is possible to use ARWU to look for patterns in the world's research and higher education landscape. Here are some "winners" and "losers", based on the number of universities in the ARWU top 500 in 2004, when Shanghai changed the initial methodology to include the social sciences and 2023. This is far from a perfect measure; for a start this ranking does not takes no account of the humanities and relies to much on old Nobel and Fields laureates. Even so it does give us some idea of the shift in the academic world's centre of gravity.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Rising</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Australia from 14 in 2004 to 24 in 2023 (and from 2 in the top 100 to 7)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Brazil from 4 to 5</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">China from 16 to 98 (and from zero in the top 100 to 11)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Malaysia from zero to one</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">New Zealand from 3 to 4</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Saudi Arabia from zero to 6</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Singapore 2 in the top 500 in 2004 and 2023 (but rising from zero in the top 100 in 2004 to 2 in 2023)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">South Korea from 8 to 11</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Falling</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Canada from 23 to 18 </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">France from 22 to 18</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Germany from 43 to 31</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>India from 3 to 1</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Israel from 7 to 5 (but rising from 1 to 3 in the top 100)</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Italy from 24 to 16</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Japan from 36 to 12 (and from 5 in the top 100 to 2)</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Switzerland from 8 to 7</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>United Kingdom from 42 to 38 (and from 11 in the top 100 to 8)</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>United States from 170 to 120 (and from 51 in the top 100 to 38)</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The last two decades have seen a massive increase in the research capabilities of universities in Australia, China, South Korea, and Singapore. The rest of Asia, including Japan and India, has stagnated or even fallen relatively and perhaps absolutely.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The biggest losers are the USA, UK, and Germany although Canada, France, Italy and Switzerland have also not done so well.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">More recently, Saudi Arabia has noticeably improved and may soon be followed by other Middle eastern states.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-82768598082410479792023-07-05T06:30:00.004+00:002023-07-05T06:33:14.788+00:00The New QS Methodology: Academic Snakes and Ladders <p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span>The ranking season is under way. The latest edition of the <a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2024" target="_blank">QS world rankings </a> has just been announced and we have already seen the publication of the latest </span></span><span>tables from Leiden Ranking, </span><span>CWUR, RUR, uniRank and the THE Impact Rankings plus the THE Asian and Young Universities and Sub-Saharan Africa rankings. Forgive me if I've missed anything.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-size: large;">Each of these tells us something about the current geopolitics of higher education and science and the way in which they are reflected in the global ranking business. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The </span><span>QS rankings have a new methodology, which makes it quite different from previous editions. Nonetheless, the media have been full of universities celebrating their remarkable achievements as they have soared, surged, risen, ascended in the rankings. No doubt, there will be a few promotions and bonuses.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It is in the nature of ranking that places are finite and if some universities suddenly surge then others will fall. It seems that the general pattern of the QS rankings is that Canadian, Australian, and American universities are rising and Chinese, Korean, and Indian Universities are falling. Russian and Ukrainian universities are also falling although that might be for other reasons.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">QS have reduced the weighting of their academic survey from 40% to 30% and faculty student ratio from 20% to 10%. The weighting for the employer survey has increased from 10% to 15% and there are three new indicators, Sustainability, Employment Outcomes, and International Research Network.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>QS claim that the new methodology "reflects the collective intelligence of the sector, and the changing priorities of students." </span><span>If that is so, then the collective intelligence is very localised. The new methodology puts a heavy fist on the scales in favour of Western universities and against Asia. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The revised methodology works against universities that have acquired a good reputation for research or recruited a large and permanent faculty. It favours those that have mobilised their alumni network for the employer survey and are enthusiastic participants in the sustainability movement. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">As a result the leading Chinese institutions have taken a tumble. Peking has fallen 5 places to 17th, Tsinghua 11 to 25th, and Fudan 16 to 50th. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Other national and regional flagships have tumbled, Seoul National University from 29th to 41st, the Indian Institute of Science from 115th to 225th, the University of Tokyo from from 23rd to 28th, an the University of Hong Kong from 21st to 26th.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In contrast, the University of British Columbia, McGill University, the University of Toronto, the University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney, the University of Cape Town, Witwatersrand University, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, University of California Berkeley and UCLA are climbing the ladders. For the moment at any rate.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-8014927081614012023-05-17T22:46:00.003+00:002023-05-18T08:02:43.218+00:00World Economic Forum Declares that Africa is Rising<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The World Economic Forum (WEF), an organization of the global economic elite, has published<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/04/africa-universities-world-rankings-growth-summit-2023/" target="_blank"> a report by Phil Baty</a>, currently Chief Global Affairs Officer of <i>Times Higher Education (THE),</i> that proclaims that African universities are "surging in the world rankings" and that this is a highly positive development. </span><span>This is an irresponsible claim that has scant relationship to reality. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The report refers to a claim</span><span> </span><span>in 2012</span><span> </span><span>by Max Price, then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, that African universities needed to rise to the challenge of global university rankings. According to Baty, African universities are now successfully competing in the rankings game and rising to the top.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">And just what is the evidence for this? Well, in 2012 there were four African universities in the THE World University Rankings, In 2022 there were 97. An impressive and remarkable achievement indeed if we are talking about same rankings. But they are not the same.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In 2012 the THE rankings consisted of 402 universities. By 2022 they had expanded to 2,345 including "reporters", of which 1500+ were formally ranked. It would be truly amazing if any region had failed to improve its representation.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span>The real comparison, </span></span>of course, <span>is with the numbers in the top 400 in both years and here there is no sign of any African surging. In 2012 there were three South African universities in the top 400. The University of the Witwatersrand and Stellenbosch University were in the 251-275 band and in the 2022-2023 rankings they were in the 251-375. </span><span>The University of Cape Town was 103rd in 2012 and 160th in 2022-2023, which might be cause for concern if this was a ranking that had a rigorous and stable methodology but that is not the case for THE. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The fourth African university in the top 400 in 2012 was the University of Alexandria in the 301-350 band. By 2022 it had dropped to the 801-1000 band. This was a university on a downward spiral from its magical moment of ranking glory in 2010 when it was ranked 147th in the world overall and 4th in the world for citations as a result of a spurious affiliation claim by a serial self-publisher and self-citer, who was involved in a libel case with<i> Nature</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">By 2022-2023 another African university, the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, had entered the top 400. This was not a testimony to any kind of achievement. It was simply the result of the university taking part in the Gates-funded Global Burden of Disease Study (GBDS). Because of a flawed methodology it is possible for a university with a few papers in the study, which typically have hundreds of authors and citations, and a small number of total publications to rack up scores of 80, 90, or even 100 for this indicator. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There is then no evidence of a surge of any kind, not even a bit of a trickle.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">That brings us to the assertion that Nigeria has, followed by Egypt, posted the biggest gains in the citations indicator, which purports to measure research impact or research quality or something, and has therefore achieved excellent progress. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">THE is being entirely too modest here. It could have used the indicator to celebrate the extraordinary accomplishment of a range of African institutions and countries that have surged in the rankings with 90 + scores for citations, an incredible accomplishment that contrasts with very low scores for Research, which includes publications, expenditure and reputation. In fact, if this indicator is taken seriously a number of African universities have now outpaced reputable research universities in North America and China. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">These research influencers, according to THE, include Jimma University, Ethiopia, Damietta University, Egypt, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania, Aswan University, Egypt, University of Lagos, Nigeria, the University of Zambia, and Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Again, this has nothing to do with excellence or teamwork or transformative practices or any other current managerial shibboleth. It is largely the result of contributing a single researcher or a few to the hundreds of "authors" of GBDS papers in <i>The Lancet</i> and other prestigious journals and collecting credit for thousands of citations.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The cruellest aspect of this is that THE have announced that they are finally getting around to a partial revamping of the world rankings methodology </span>this year. If THE do go ahead it is very likely -- not certainly because the whole process is so complex and opaque -- that these universities will go tumbling down the rankings and we shall probably see leaders across the continent under fire for their gross incompetence.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It is strange that an organisation that supposedly represents the best minds of the corporate world should adopt THE as the sole arbiter of African excellence. It is not the only global ranking and in fact it is probably the worst for Africa. It emphasises income, assessed by three separate indicators, self-submitted data which diverts the unacknowledged labour of talented and motivated faculty, and reputation, and privileges postgraduate programmes. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps also, at the risk of committing heresy in the first degree, the quality of higher education should not be Africa's highest priority. The latest edition of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) shows that Morocco, Egypt, and South Africa do very poorly with regard to fourth grade literacy. For South Africa and Morocco, the situation revealed by the 2019 Trends in Mathematics and Science (TIMSS) was little better, although they did come out ahead of Pakistan and the Philippines. Surely, this is as crucial for the future of Africa as the funding of doctoral programmes.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-51423797685173025452023-04-23T13:51:00.000+00:002023-04-23T13:51:04.848+00:00Article in University World News<p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: large;">Go <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20230418085845488" target="_blank">HERE</a> for my recent article in <i>University World News</i>.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></p><h1 class="botmar4 biggerheading" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Is the switch in rankings’ focus masking the West’s decline?</span></h1><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;">A </span><a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00561-5/fulltext" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_new">recent commentary</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;"> in </span><i style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;">The Lancet</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;"> by Richard Horton presented criticism of international university rankings, including a briefing paper from the United Nations University (UNU) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;">Horton makes some relevant comments on the rankings, although his survey is very limited and incomplete, and he argues that they need to be reformed to hold universities accountable for their social responsibilities. He notes that the UNU report suggests doing away with rankings altogether.</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;">The status of </span><i style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;">The Lancet</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;"> is such that this article provides insight into the collective thinking of the Western academic and scientific establishment and it therefore needs some attention.</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px;">To start with, getting rid of rankings, as posited in the article, sounds like a good idea, but it is not really feasible. Bureaucrats and faculty in the big brand universities are not suggesting that every university is as good as any other, that their salaries or tuition fees be reduced to the industry average, that research grants be allocated randomly or that their students are no more employable or intelligent than those at other places.</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-18551787000356344632023-03-20T22:20:00.005+00:002023-03-29T14:16:33.802+00:00The Frontiers of the Ranking World: UNIRANKS<p>After predatory journals and predatory conferences, the next logical step would be predatory rankings. </p><p>Recently, internet searches have shown up something called UNIRANKS, with a polished website containing several plausible world and country rankings and announcements about a forthcoming conference, along with a list of photogenic speakers and detailed instructions about registration and payment.</p><p>I will not give out the URL since a couple of clicks in I ran into a bright red screen with a warning about phishing.</p><p>There appears to be no adequate methodological details, no advisory committee, no criteria for inclusion, or any of the other things provided by even the most technically careless rankings. Even the name is a near copy of UniRank, a reputable if limited search engine and ranking.</p><p>So be warned. If I receive any indication that this is a proper ranking and conference I will of course post it.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-24916197439429869372023-03-18T01:03:00.001+00:002023-03-18T01:06:40.277+00:00SCImago Innovation Rankings: The East-West Gap Gets Wider<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>The decline of western academic research becomes more apparent every time a ranking with a stable and moderately accurate methodology is published. This will not be obvious if one just looks at the top ten, or even the top fifty, of the better known rankings. Harvard, Stanford, and MIT are usually still there at the top and Oxford and Cambridge are cruising along in the top twenty or the top thirty.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>But take away the metrics that measure inherited intellectual capital such as the Nobel and Fields laureates in the Shanghai rankings or the reputation surveys in the QS, THE, and US world rankings, and the dominance of the West appears ever more precarious. This is confirmed if we turn from overall rankings to subject and field tables.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Take a look at the most recent edition of the CWTS Leiden Ranking, which is highly reputed among researchers although much less so among the media. For sheer number of publications overall, Harvard still holds the lead although Zhejiang, Shanghai Jiao Tong and Tsinghua are closing in and there are more Chinese schools in the top 30. Chinese dominance is reduced if we move to the top 10% of journals but it may be just a matter of time before China takes the lead there as well. </b></span></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But click to physical sciences and engineering. The top 19 places are held by Mainland Chinese universities with the University of Tokyo coming in at 20. MIT is there at 33, Texas A & M at 55 and Purdue 62. Again the Chinese presence is diluted, probably just for the moment, if we switch to the top 10% or 1% of journals. </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Turning to developments in applied research, the shift to China and away from the West, appears even greater.</b></span></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.scimagoir.com/rankings.php?ranking=Overall&area=all" target="_blank">The SCImago Institutions rankings</a> are rather distinctive. In addition to the standard measures of research activity, there are also metrics for innovation and societal impact. Also, they include the performance of government agencies, hospitals, research centres and companies.</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The innovation rankings combine three measures of patent activity. Patents are problematic for comparing universities but they can establish broad long-term trends. </span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here are the top 10 for Innovation in 2009:</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1. Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2. Harvard University </span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">3. National Institutes of Health, USA</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">4. Stanford University </span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">6. Institute National de las Sante et de la Recherche Medicale</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">7. Johns Hopkins University </span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">8. University of California Los Angeles</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">9. Howard Hughes Medical Institute </span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">10. University of Tokyo.</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And here they are for 2023:</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1. Chinese Academy of Sciences </span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2. State Grid Corporation of China </span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">3. Ministry of Education PRC</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">4. DeepMind</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5. Ionis Pharmaceuticals</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">6. Google Inc, USA</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">7. Alphabet Inc </span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">8. Tsinghua University</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">9. Huawei Technologies Co Ltd</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">10. Google International LLC.</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What happened to the high flying universities of 2009? Harvard is in 57th place, MIT in 60th, Stanford 127th, Johns Hopkins 365th, and Tokyo in 485th. </span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">it seems that the torch of innovation has left the hand of American, European, and Japanese universities and research centres and has been passed to Multinational, Chinese, and American companies and research bodies, plus a few Chinese universities. I am not sure where the loyalties of the multinational institutions lie, if indeed they have any at all.</span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-53943201699167702942023-03-04T00:27:00.002+00:002023-03-04T00:27:58.648+00:00US News and the Law Schools<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>There has always been a tension between the claim by commercial rankers that that they provide insights and data for students and other stakeholders and the need to keep on the good side of those institutions that can provide them with status, credibility, and perhaps even lucrative consultancies.</b></span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A recent example is Yale, Harvard, Berkeley and other leading law schools declaring that they will "boycott", "leave", "shun", or "withdraw from" the <i>US News </i>(USN) law school rankings. USN has announced that it will make some concessions to the schools although it seems that, for some of them at least, </span><span style="font-size: medium;">this will not be enough. It is possible that this revolt of the elites will spread to other US institutions and other rankings. Already Harvard Medical School has declared that it will follow suit and boycott the medical school rankings.</span></span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>At first sight, it would seem that the law schools are performing an act of extraordinary generosity or self denial. Yale has held first place since the rankings began and the others who have joined the supposed boycott seem to be mainly from the upper levels of the ranking while those who have not seem to be mostly from the middle and lower. To "abandon" a ranking that has served the law school elite so well for many years is a bit odd, to say the least.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><span><span>But Yale and the others are not a</span><span>ctually leaving or withdrawing from the rankings. That is something they cannot do. The data used by <i>US News </i>is mostly from public sources or if it is supplied by the schools it can be replaced by public data. </span></span><span>The point of the exercise seems </span><span>to be to persuade <i>US News</i> to review their methodology so that it conforms to the direction where Yale law school and other institutions want to go.</span></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>We can be sure that the schools have a good idea how they will fare if the current methodology continues and what is likely to happen if there are changes. It is now standard practice in the business to model how institutions will be affected by possible tweaks in ranking methodology.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>So what was Yale demanding? It wanted fellowships to be given the same weighting as graduate </b></span><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">legal </b><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">jobs. This would appear reasonable on the surface but it seems that the fellowships will be under the control of Yale and therefore this would add a metric dependent on the ability to fund such fellowships. Yale also wanted debt-forgiveness programmes to be counted in the rankings. Again this is something dependent on the schools having enough money to spare.</b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>For a long time the top law schools have been in the business of supplying bright and conscientious young graduates. Employers have been happy to pay substantial salaries to the graduates of the famous "top 14" schools since they appear more intelligent and productive than those from run of the mill institutions.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>The top law schools have been able to do this by rigorous selection procedures including standardised tests and college grades. Basically, they have selected for intelligence and conscientiousness and perhaps for a certain amount of agreeability and conformity. There is some deception here, including perhaps including self-deception. Yale and the rest of the elite claim that they are doing something remarkable by producing outstanding legal talent but in fact they are just recruiting new students with the greatest potential, or at least they did until quite recently.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>If schools cannot select for such attributes then they will have problems convincing future employers that their graduates do in fact possess them. If that happens then the law school graduate premium will erode and if that happens future lawyers will be reluctant to go into never ending debt to enter a career that is increasingly precarious and unrewarding.</b></span></p><p><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The law schools, along with American universities in general, are also voicing their discontent with reliance on standardised tests for admission and their inclusion as ranking indicators. The rationale for this is that the tests supposedly discourage universities from offering aid according to need and favours those who can afford expensive test prep courses.</b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Sometimes this is expanded into the argument that since there is a relationship between test scores and wealth then that is the only thing that tests measure and so they cannot measure anything else that might be related to academic ability. </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><span>The problem here is that standardised tests do have a substantial relationship with intelligence, although not as much as they used to, which </span><span>in turn has a strong relationship with academic and career </span></b></span><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">success</b><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>. Dropping the tests means that schools will have to rely on high school and college grades. which have been increasingly diluted over the last few decades, or on recommendations, interviews, and personal essays which have little or no predictive validity and can be easily prepped or gamed.</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>It appears that American academia is retreating from its mission of producing highly intelligent and productive graduates and have embraced the goal of socialisation into the currently dominant ideology. Students will be admitted and graduated and faculty recruited according to their doctrinal conformity and their declared identity. </b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>USN has gone some way to meeting the demands of the schools but that will probably not be enough. Already there are calls to have a completely new ranking system or to do away with rankings altogether.</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-54002977687383959012023-02-25T10:51:00.000+00:002023-02-25T10:51:06.379+00:00Global Trends in Innovation: Evidence from SCImago<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>We are now approaching the third decade of global university rankings. They have had a mixed impact. The original Shanghai rankings published in 2003 were a salutary shock for universities in continental Europe and contributed to a wave of restructuring and excellence initiatives. </span><span>On the other hand, rankings with unstable and unreliable methodologies are of little use to anyone except for the public relations departments of wealthy Western universities. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In contrast, the SCImago Institutions Rankings, published by a Spanish research organisation, with thousands of universities, hospitals, research institutes, companies and other organisations, can be quite informative, especially the Innovation and Societal Rankings.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The Innovation Rankings, which are based on three measures of patent citations and applications, included 4019 organisations of various kinds in 2009. The top spot was held by the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique in France, followed by Harvard, the National Institutes of Health in the USA, Stanford, and MIT.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Altogether the top 20 in 2009 consisted of ten universities, nine American plus the University of Tokyo, and ten non-university organisations, three American, two German, two French, two multinational, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 14th place. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Fast forward to 2022 and we now have 8084 institutions. First place now goes to CAS, followed by the State Grid Corporation of China, Deep Mind Technologies, a British AI firm, the Chinese Ministry of Education, and Samsung Corp.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Now, the top twenty includes exactly two universities, Tsinghua in 14th place and Harvard in 20th. The rest are companies, health organisations, and government agencies. The nationality assigned by Scimago for these eighteen is Multinational eight, USA six, China four, and UK and South Korea one each.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">What about those high flying US universities of 2009? Stanford has fallen from 4th place to 67th, the University of Michigan from 13th to 249th, the University of Washington from 16th to 234th.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The relative -- and probably now absolute as well -- decline of American academic research has been well documented. It seems that the situation is even more dire for the innovative capability of US universities. But the technological torch is passing not only to Chinese universities and research centres but also to US and Multinational corporations.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-73005881442236406632023-02-04T12:56:00.002+00:002023-02-15T00:33:21.395+00:00Aggregate Ranking from BlueSky Thinking<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">In recent years there have been attempts to construct
rankings that combine several global rankings. The University of New South
Wales has produced an aggregate ranking based on the “Big Three” rankings, the
Shanghai ARWU, <i>Times Higher Education</i> (THE), and QS. AppliedHE of Singapore has produced a ranking
that combines these three plus Leiden Ranking and Webometrics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">The latest aggregate ranking is from <a href="https://bluesky-thinking.com/bluesky-ranking-of-university-rankings-2022-23/" target="_blank">BlueSky Thinking</a>, a
website devoted to research and insights in higher education. This aggregates
the big three rankings plus the Best Global Universities published by <i>US
News</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">There are some noticeable differences between the rankings.
The University of California Berkeley is fourth in the US News rankings but 27<sup>th</sup>
in QS. The National University of Singapore is 11<sup>th</sup> in QS but 71<sup>st</sup>
in ARWU.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">The top of the aggregate ranking is unremarkable. Harvard
leads followed by Stanford, MIT, Cambridge, and Oxford.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;"><span>There have been some significant changes over the last five
years, with universities in Mainland China, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Saudi
Arabia, and Australia recording significant improvements, while a number of US institutions,
including Ohio State University, Boston University and the University of
Minnesota, have fallen.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-16833716129552271002023-01-28T19:23:00.003+00:002023-02-15T00:34:18.805+00:00Another Sustainability Ranking<p> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://peopleandplanet.org/university-league" target="_blank">People and Planet</a> is a British student network concerned with environmental and social justice. It has just published a league table that claims to measure the environmental and ethical performance of UK universities.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>The top five universities are Cardiff Metropolitan, Bedfordshire, Manchester Metropolitan, Reading, and University of the Arts London. </span><span>It is interesting that this league table shows almost no overlap with the other rankings that claim to assess commitment or contributions to sustainability.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here are all the six British universities in the latest UI GreenMetric ranking in order: Nottingham, Nottingham Trent, Warwick, Glasgow Caledonian, Loughborough, Teesside.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>The top five British universities in the THE Impact Rankings are Newcastle, Manchester, Glasgow, Leicester, King's College London. F</span><span>or the QS Sustainability rankings we have: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oxford, Newcastle, Cambridge.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">There is some similarity between the QS Sustainability and the THE Impact Rankings, because both give prominence to research on environmental topics. But even this is quite modest compared to the much greater overlap between conventional research based rankings such as Leiden, Shanghai or URAP (Middle East Technical University).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This surely raises serious questions about the trend to rankings based on sustainability. If the rankers produce league tables that show such a modest degree of correlation then we have to ask whether there is any point at all to the exercise.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-79532310678178611372023-01-20T22:46:00.002+00:002023-01-20T22:46:25.097+00:00Implications of the new QS methodolgy<p><span>QS have announced that the world rankings due to appear in 2023 will have a new methodology. This is likely to produce significant changes in the scores and ranks of some universities even if there are no significant changes in the underlying data. </span></p><p><span>There will no doubt be headlines galore about how dynamic leadership and teamwork have transformed institutions or how those miserable Scrooges in government have been crushing higher education by withholding needed funds.</span></p><p><span>The first change is that the weighting of the academic survey will be reduced from 40% to 30%. This is quite sensible: 40% is far too high for any one indicator. It remains, however, the largest single indicator and it remains one that tends to favour the old elite or those universities that can afford expensive marketing consultants, at the expense of emerging institutions. The employer survey weight will go up from 10% to 15%.</span></p><p><span>Next, the weighting of faculty student ratio has been cut from 20% to 10%. Again this is not a bad idea. This metric is quite easy to manipulate and has only a modest relationship to teaching quality, for which it is sometimes supposed to be a proxy.</span></p><p><span>What has not changed is the citations per faculty indicator. This is unfortunate since rankers can get very different results by tweaking the methodology just a bit. It would have been a big improvement if </span><span>QS had used several different metrics for citations and/or publications, something that <i>Times Higher Education</i> has just got round to doing.</span></p><p><span>Then there are three new indicators: international research network, graduate employability, and sustainability.</span></p><p><span>This means that international indicators will now account for a 15% weighting, adding a further bias towards English-speaking universities, or those in small countries adjoining larger neighbours with similar languages and cultures and working against China and India. </span></p><p>The introduction of a sustainability metric is questionable. It requires a considerable amount of institutional data collecting and this will tend to favour schools with the resources and ambitions to jump through the rankers' hoops.</p><p>On the surface, it seems that these changes will be a modest improvement. However, I suspect that one effect of the changes will be a spurious boost for the scores and ranks of the elite Western and English-speaking universities who can mobilise partners and alumni for the surveys, nurture their global networks, and collect the data required to compete in the rankings.</p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-73153458379289455572022-11-07T22:29:00.000+00:002022-11-07T22:29:27.129+00:00The QS Sustainability Rankings<p> </p><p><br /></p><h1 class="botmar4 biggerheading" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;">Do we need to measure social and environmental impact?</h1><div class="byline-country botmar12" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><b style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/fullsearch.php?mode=search&writer=Richard+Holmes" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;">Richard Holmes</a></b> <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap;">29 October 2022</span></div><div class="byline-country botmar12" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap;"><br /></span></div><div class="byline-country botmar12" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20221028150226407" target="_blank">Article published in University World News.</a></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-41864324930763470422022-10-23T16:02:00.001+00:002022-10-23T16:02:11.864+00:00Australia and the THE World Rankings<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Latest Rankings</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The latest <i>Times Higher Education</i> (THE) <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2023/world-ranking" target="_blank">world rankings</a>
have just been announced at a summit in New York. Around the world political leaders,
mass media, and academics have been proclaiming their delight about their
universities rising in the rankings. Australian universities are especially
fascinated by them, sometimes to the point of unhealthy obsession. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.studyaustralia.gov.au/news/the-world-university-rankings-2023#:~:text=Australia%20shines%20again%20in%20the%20THE%20World%20University,seven%20Australian%20institutions%20in%20the%20world%20top%20100." target="_blank"><i>Study Australia</i> reports</a> that "Australia shines again." <a href="https://insiderguides.com.au/times-higher-education-world-rankings-2023/" target="_blank"><i>Insider Guides</i></a> finds it "particularly exciting" that six Australian universities in the top 200 have climbed the charts. Monash University <a href="https://www.monash.edu/news/articles/monash-achieves-historic-result-in-the-world-university-rankings">is celebrating</a> how it has "skyrocketed" 13 places, further proof of its world-leading status.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It is unfortunate that Australian media and administrators
are so concerned with these rankings. They are not the only global rankings and
certainly not the most reliable, although they are apparently approved by
universities in the traditional elite or their imitators. They are not totally without value, but they do
need a lot of deconstructions to get to any sort of meaningful insight.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Transparency<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One problem with the THE rankings, to be painfully repetitive,
is that they are far from transparent. Three of their five current “pillars”
consist of more than one indicator so we cannot be sure exactly what is
contributing to a rise or fall. If, for example, a university suddenly improves
for THE’s teaching pillar that might be because its income has increased, or
the number of faculty has increased, or the number of students has decreased,
or it has awarded more doctorates or fewer bachelor’s degrees, or it has got
more votes in THE’s reputation survey, or a combination of two or more of
these. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE's citations indicator, which purportedly measures
research impact or research quality, stands alone but it is also extremely
opaque. To calculate a university’s score for citations you have to work out
the number of citations in 8,000 “boxes” (300 plus fields multiplied by five
years of publication multiplied by five types of documents) and compare them to
the world average. Add them up and then apply the country bonus, the square
root of the national impact score, to half of the university’s score. Then
calculate Z scores. For practical purposes this indicator is a black box into
which masses of data disappear, are chopped up, shuffled around, processed, reconstituted
and then turned into numbers and ranks that are, to say the least, somewhat
counter-intuitive. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This indicator, which accounts for a 30% weighting, has
produced some remarkable results over the last decade, with a succession of
improbable institutions soaring into the upper reaches of this metric. This
year’s tables are no exception. The world leader is Arak University of Medical
Sciences, Iran, followed by Cankaya University, Turkey, Duy Tan University, Vietnam,
Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, and Jimma University, Ethiopia.
Another two Iranian medical universities are in the top 25. They may not last
long. Over the last few years quite a lot of universities have appeared briefly
at the top and then in a few years slumped to a much lower position.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the more interesting things about the current success
of the THE rankings is the apparent suspension of critical thought among the superlatively
credentialed and accredited leaders of the academic world. One wonders how
those professors, rectors and deans who gather at the various summits,
seminars, webinars, and masterclasses would react to a graduate student who
wrote a research paper that claimed that Arak University of Medical Sciences
leads the world for “research quality”, Istanbul Technical University for
“knowledge transfer”, or Macau University of Science and Technology for
“international outlook”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;">Volatility</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not only do the rankings lack transparency they are also
extremely volatile. The top fifty list, or even the top one hundred, is
reasonably stable but after that THE has seen some quite remarkable and
puzzling ascents and descents. There have been methodological changes and there
is a big one coming next year but that alone does not explain why there should be
such dramatic changes. One cause of instability in the rankings is the
citations indicator which is constructed so that one or a few researchers,
often those working on the Gates-funded Global Burden of Disease Study (GBDS),
can have a massively disproportionate impact. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Another possible cause of volatility is that the number of
ranked institutions is not fixed. If the rankings expand new universities will
usually be at the lower end of the scale and the effect of this is that the
mean score for each indicator is lowered and this will affect the final score
for every institution since the standardised scores that appear in the published
tables are based on means and deviations. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There may be other reasons for the volatility of this year’s
rankings. Fluctuating exchange rates may have affected reported income data,
international students’ numbers may have fallen or even recovered. Some
universities might have performed better in the surveys of teaching or
research.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Australian universities rising and falling<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Some Australian universities appear to have been quite mobile
this year. In some cases, this has a lot to do with the citation indicator. Two years ago,
Bond University was ranked in the 501 – 600 band and 26<sup>th</sup> in
Australia. Now it is tenth in Australia and in the world top 300, driven
largely by a remarkable rise in the citations score from 56.4 to 99.7. A lot of
that seems to have come from a small number of publications relating to the
2020 PRISMA statement which amassed a massive number of citations in 2021 and
2022.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Another example is Australian Catholic University. In 2018 it
was in the world 501-600 band and this year it is in band 251-300. This is mainly
due to an improvement in its citations score from 59.5 to 98.5, the result of a
series of articles between 2017 and 2020 related to the multi-author and
massively cited GBDS.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The problem with relying on citations to get ahead in the THE
rankings is that if the researchers who have been racking up the citations move
on or retire the scores will eventually decline as their papers pass outside
the period for counting publications. This might have happened with the University
of Canberra which has benefitted from GBDS papers published between 2015 and
2018. This year, however, the 2015 and 2016 papers no longer count, and the
result is that Canberra’s citation score has fallen from 98.6 to 92.6 and its
world rank from 170<sup>th</sup> to 250-300. A university might even start
falling just because its peers have started racking up scores of 99 plus for
citations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is similar to the trajectory of quite a few
international universities that have risen and fallen in the wake of a few
highly cited papers such as Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Iran,
the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, the University of Occupational and
Environmental Health, Japan, Durban University of Technology, South Africa, and
Nova Southeastern University, USA.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Citations have a lot to do with Australia’s success in the
THE rankings. All the Australian universities the world rankings have a higher
score for citations than for research, which is measured by publications,
reputation, and research income and six have citation scores in the 90s.
Compare that with Japan, where the highest citation score is 82.8. and leading
universities do better for research than for citations. If THE had taken some
of the weight from citations and given it to research, Australian universities
might be in a different position.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Are the THE rankings any use?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Over the long term the THE rankings might have some value in
charting the general health of an institution or a national system. Should a
university fall steadily across several indicators despite changes in
methodology and despite proclaimed excellence initiatives, then that might be a
sign of systemic decline.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The success of Australian universities in the THE rankings might represent genuine progress but it is necessary to identify exactly why they are rising and how sustainable that progress is.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The rankings certainly should not be used to punish or reward researchers and
teachers for “success” or “failure” in the rankers, to allocate funds, or to attract
talented faculty or wealthy students.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Other rankings<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The THE rankings are not the only game in town or in the
world. In fact, for most purposes there are several rankings that are no worse
and probably a lot better than THE. It would be a good idea for Australian universities, students and stakeholders to shop around a bit,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For a serious analysis of research quantity and quality there are straightforward rankings of research conducted
by universities or research centres such as Shanghai Ranking, CWTS Leiden
University, University Ranking by Academic Performance, or National Taiwan
University. They can be a bit boring since they do not change very much from
year to year, but they are at least reasonably competent technically and they rely on
data that is fairly objective and transparent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For prospective graduate and professional students, the
research-based rankings might be helpful since the quality of research is
likely to have an effect, even if an unpredictable, on the quality of
postgraduate and professional instruction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For undergraduate students there is not really too much that
is directly relevant to their needs. The QS employability rankings, the
Employer opinion survey in the QS world rankings, the Emerging/Trendence rankings
employability rankings, the student quality section in the Center for World
University Ranking tables, now based in the Emirates, can all help to provide
some helpful insights.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Next year?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It seems that THE has finally steeled itself to introduce a
set of changes. The precise effect is unclear except that the world rankings
look to be getting even more complex and even more burdensome for the underpaid
drones toiling away to collect, process and transmit the data THE requires of
its “customers”. It is not clear exactly how this will affect Australian universities.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">No doubt Australian deans and rectors will be wondering what lies ahead of
them in the 2024 rankings coming next year. But not to worry. THE is offering
“bespoke” shadow rankings that will tell them how they would have done if the new methodology had been applied this year. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-46658582869096989402022-08-21T05:07:00.001+00:002022-08-29T11:53:55.311+00:00California in the Shanghai Rankings<p><span style="font-size: large;">Global rankings are often misleading and uninformative, especially those that have eccentric methodologies or are subject to systematic gaming. But if their indicators are objective and reliable over several years, they can tell us something about shifts in the international distribution of research excellence.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>I would like to look at 20 years of the Shanghai Rankings from the first edition in 2003 to the most recent, published this week. The first thing that anyone notices is of course the remarkable rise of China -- not Asia in general -- and the relative decline of the USA. </span><span>These rankings can also be used to find regional trends within nations. Take a look at California universities. In 2003 California was the research star of the US with six universities in the world top twenty. Two decades later that number has fallen to five with the University of California (UC) San Diego falling from 14th to 21st place.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">That is symptomatic of a broader trend. UC Santa Barbara has fallen from 25th to 57th, the University of Southern California from 40th to 55th, and UC Riverside from 88th to the 201-300 band. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">American universities in nearly all the states have been falling and have, for the most part, been replaced, by Chinese institutions. But even within the USA California has been drifting downwards. Caltech has gone from 3rd to 7th, UC San Francisco, a medical school, from 11th to 15th, and UC Davis from 27th to band 40-54.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This is not universal. Stanford is still second in the USA in 2022 while UC Los Angeles (UCLA) has risen from 13th to 11th.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>But overall California is falling. Of </span><span>the thirteen universities in the top 500 in 2003, nine had fallen in the US table by 2022, two, UC Santa Cruz and UCLA, rose and, two remained in the same rank. The decline is especially apparent in the Publications metric, which is based on recent articles in the Web of Science.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Recent events in California, including learning loss during the pandemic, the abandonment of standardised testing, and the imposition of political loyalty tests for faculty, suggest that the decline is not going to be halted or reversed any time soon.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562380.post-1016328462392595632022-07-19T19:44:00.010+00:002022-07-24T21:03:36.133+00:00What's the Matter with Harvard?<p><span style="font-size: medium;">When the first global ranking was published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University back in 2003, the top place was taken by Harvard. It was the same for the rankings that followed in 2004, Webometrics and the THES - QS World University Rankings. Indeed, at that time any international ranking that did not put Harvard at the top would have been regarded as faulty.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Is Harvard Declining?</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But since then Harvard has been dethroned by a few rankings. Now MIT leads in the QS world rankings, while Oxford is first in THE's and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nature Index. Recently Caltech deposed Harvard at the top of the Round University Rankings, now published in Georgia.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It is difficult to get excited about Oxford leading Harvard in the THE rankings. A table that purports to show Macau University of Science and Technology as the world's most international university, Asia University Taiwan as the most innovative, and An Najah National University as the best for research impact, need not be taken too seriously.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Losing out to MIT in the QS world rankings probably does not mean very much either. Harvard is at a serious disadvantage here for international students and international faculty.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Harvard and Leiden Ranking</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">On the other hand, the performance of Harvard in <a href="https://www.leidenranking.com/ranking/2022/list" target="_blank">CWTS Leiden Ranking</a>, which is generally respected in the global research community, might tell us that something is going on. Take a look at the total number of publications for the period 2017-20 (using the default settings and parameters). There we can see Harvard at the top with 35,050 publications followed by Zhejiang and Shanghai Jiao Tong Universities.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But it is rather different for publications in the broad subject fields. Harvard is still in the lead for Biomedical Sciences and for Social Sciences and Humanities. For Mathematics and Computer Science, however, the top twenty consists entirely of Mainland Chinese universities. The best non - Mainland institution is Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Harvard is 128th.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">You could argue whether this is just a matter of quantity rather than quality. So, let's turn to another Leiden indicator, the percentage of publications in the top 10% of journals for Mathematics and Computer Science. Even here China is in the lead, although somewhat precariously. Changsha University of Science and Technology tops the table and Harvard is in fifth place.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>The pattern for Physical Sciences and Engineering is similar. The top 19 for publications are Chinese with the University of Tokyo in 20th place. However, for those in the top 10% Harvard still leads. </span><span>It seems then that Harvard is still ahead for upmarket publications in physics and engineering but a growing and substantial amount of research is done by China, a few other parts of Asia, and perhaps some American outposts of scientific excellence such as MIT and Caltech.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The Rise of China</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The trend seems clear. China is heading towards industrial and scientific hegemony and eventually Peking, Tsinghua, Fudan and Zhejiang and a few others will, if nothing changes, surpass the Ivy league, the Group of Eight, and Oxbridge, although it will take longer for the more expensive and demanding fields of research. Perhaps the opportunity will be lost in the next few years if there is another proletarian cultural revolution in China or if Western universities change course.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>What Happened to Harvard's Money?</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It is standard to claim that the success or failure of universities is dependent on the amount of money they receive. The latest edition of the annual Nature Index tables was accompanied by headlines proclaiming that that China's recent success in high impact research was the result of a long term investment program. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Money surely had a lot to do with it but there needs to be a bit of caution here. The higher education establishment has a clear vested interest in getting as much money from the public purse as it can and is inclined to claiming that any decline in the rankings is a result of hostility to higher education..</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span>Tracing the causes of Harvard's decline, we should consult the latest edition of the Round University Rankings, now based in Georgia, which provides ranks for 20 indicators. </span><span>In 2021 Harvard was first but this year it was second, replaced by Caltech. </span></span><span>So what happened? Looking more closely we see that in 2021 Harvard was 2nd for financial sustainability and in 2022 it was 357th, That suggests a catastrophic financial collapse. So maybe there has been a financial disaster over at Harvard </span><span>and the media simply have not noticed bankrupt professors jumping out of their offices, Nobel laureates hawking their medals, or mendicant students wandering the streets with tin cups. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Zooming in a bit, it seems that, if the data is accurate, there has been a terrible collapse in Harvard's financial fortunes. For i</span><span>nstitutional income per academic staff Harvard's rank has gone from 21st to 891st.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Exiting sarcasm mode for a moment, it is of course impossible that there has actually been such a catastrophic fall in income. I suspect that what we have here is something similar to what happened to <a href="https://rankingwatch.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-trinity-affair-gets-worse.html" target="_blank">Trinity College Dublin</a> a few years ago when someone forgot the last six zeros when filling out the form for the THE world rankings.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">So let me borrow a flick knife from my good friend Occam and propose that what happened to Harvard in the Round University Rankings was simply that somebody left off the zeros at the end of the institutional income number when submitting data to Clarivate Analytics, who do the statistics for RUR. I expect next year the error will be corrected, perhaps without anybody admitting that anything was wrong.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>So, there was no substantial reason why Harvard lost ground to Caltech in the Round Rankings this year. Still it does say something that such a mistake could occur and that nobody in the administration noticed or had the honesty to say anything. That is perhaps symptomatic of deeper problems within American academia. </span><span>We can then expect the relative decline of Harvard and the rise of Chinese universities and a few others in Asia to continue.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0