For the last couple of years the higher education media has tried to present any blip in the fortunes of UK universities as one of the malign effects of Brexit, whose toxic rays are unlimited by space, time or logic. Similarly, if anything unpleasant happens to US institutions, it is often linked to the evil spell of the great orange devil, who is scaring away international students, preventing the recruitment of the scientific elites of the world, or even being insufficiently credulous of the latest settled science.
So what is the explanation for the remarkable renaissance of US higher education apparently revealed by the THE reputation survey published today?
Is Trump working his magic to make American colleges great again?
UCLA is up four places, Carnegie Mellon seven, Cornell six, University of Washington six, Pennsylvania three. In contrast, several European and Asian institutions have fallen, University College London and the University of Kyoto by two places, Munich by seven, and Moscow State University by three.
In the previous post I noted that this year's survey had seen an increased response from engineering and computer science and a reduced one from the social sciences and the arts and humanities. As expected, LSE has tumbled five places and Oxford has fallen one place. Surprisingly, Caltech has fallen as well.
Some schools that are strong in engineering, such as Nanyang Technological University and Georgia Institute of Technology, have done well but I do not know if that is a full explanation for the success of US universities.
I suspect that US administrators have learned that influencing reputation is easier than maintaining scientific and intellectual standards and that a gap is emerging between perceptions and actual achievements.
It will be interesting to see if these results are confirmed by the reputation indicators included in the QS, Best Global Universities, and the Round University Rankings
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Saturday, May 26, 2018
The THE reputation rankings
THE have just published details of their reputation rankings which will be published on May 30th, just ahead, no doubt coincidentally, of the QS World University Rankings.
The number of responses has gone down a bit, from 10,566 last year to 10,162, possibly reflecting growing survey fatigue among academics.
In surveys of this kind the distribution of responses is crucial. The more responses from engineers the better for universities in Asia. The more from scholars in the humanities the better for Western Europe. I have noted in a previous blog that the fortunes of Oxford in this ranking are tied to the percentage of responses from the arts and humanities.
This year there have been modest or small reductions in the percentage of responses from the clinical and health sciences, the life sciences, the social sciences, education and psychology and large ones for business and economics and the arts and humanities.
The number of responses in engineering and computer science has increased considerably.
It is likely that this year places like Caltech and Nanyang Technological University will do better while Oxford and LSE will suffer. It will be interesting to see if THE claim that this is all the fault of Brexit, an anti-feminist reaction to Oxford's appointment of a female vice-chancellor or government Scrooges turning off the funding tap.
The number of responses has gone down a bit, from 10,566 last year to 10,162, possibly reflecting growing survey fatigue among academics.
In surveys of this kind the distribution of responses is crucial. The more responses from engineers the better for universities in Asia. The more from scholars in the humanities the better for Western Europe. I have noted in a previous blog that the fortunes of Oxford in this ranking are tied to the percentage of responses from the arts and humanities.
This year there have been modest or small reductions in the percentage of responses from the clinical and health sciences, the life sciences, the social sciences, education and psychology and large ones for business and economics and the arts and humanities.
The number of responses in engineering and computer science has increased considerably.
It is likely that this year places like Caltech and Nanyang Technological University will do better while Oxford and LSE will suffer. It will be interesting to see if THE claim that this is all the fault of Brexit, an anti-feminist reaction to Oxford's appointment of a female vice-chancellor or government Scrooges turning off the funding tap.
|
|
2017 %
|
2018 %
|
|
Physical science
|
14.6
|
15.6
|
|
Clinical and health
|
14.5
|
13.2
|
|
Life sciences
|
13.3
|
12.8
|
|
Business and economics
|
13.1
|
9
|
|
engineering
|
12.7
|
18.1
|
|
Arts and humanities
|
12.5
|
7.5
|
|
Social sciences
|
8.9
|
7.6
|
|
Computer science
|
4.2
|
10.4
|
|
Education
|
2.6
|
2.5
|
|
Psychology
|
2.6
|
2.3
|
|
Law
|
0.9
|
1.0
|
|
|
|
|
|
North America
|
22
|
22
|
|
Asia Pacific
|
33
|
32
|
|
Western Europe
|
25
|
26
|
|
Eastern Europe
|
11
|
11
|
|
Latin America
|
5
|
5
|
|
Middle East
|
3
|
3
|
|
Africa
|
2
|
2
|
Friday, May 18, 2018
Getting ready for the next World's Smartest Rankings
As the world waits for the coming round of global rankings -- will Harvard still be number one in the Shanghai rankings? -- I am starting to update my list of smart rankings.
One of favorites was 'the Campus Squirrel Listings." A candidate for inclusion in the next edition is 'The Top 10 Colleges for Dog Lovers'
Number one in the USA is Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.
One of favorites was 'the Campus Squirrel Listings." A candidate for inclusion in the next edition is 'The Top 10 Colleges for Dog Lovers'
Number one in the USA is Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.
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