Book Review in the THES

A new book on university rankings, The World-Class University and Ranking: Aiming Beyond Status, has appeared and has been reviewed by Martin Ince in the Times Higher Education Suppplement (THES). It is edited by Liu Nian Cai of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Jan Sadlak. You can read a review here (subscription required) I hope eventually to review the book myself.

I must admit to being rather amused by one comment by Ince. He says:

"Although one of its editors is the director of the Shanghai rankings, The World-Class University and Ranking largely reflects university concerns at being ranked. Many contributors regard ranking as an unwelcome new pressure on academics and institutions. Much is made of the "Berlin principles" for ranking, a verbose and pompous 16-point compilation that includes such tips as "choose indicators according to their relevance and validity". The Shanghai rankings themselves fall at the third principle, the need to recognise diversity, because they rank the world's universities almost exclusively on science research. But the principles are silent on the most important point they should have contained - the need for rankings to be independent and not be produced by universities or education ministries."

I would not argue about the desirability of rankings being independent of university or government bureaucracies but there is far greater danger in rankings that are dominated by the commercial interests of newspapers.