Tuesday, February 04, 2014
Will Global Rankings Boost Higher Education in Emerging Countries?
My article in University World News can be accessed here.
Monday, February 03, 2014
India and the World Rankings
There is an excellent article in Asian Scientist by Prof Pushkar of BITS Pilani that questions the developing obsession in India with getting into the top 100 or 200 of the world rankings.
Prof Pushkar observes that Indian universities have never done well in global rankings. He says:
and
Even so:
He also refers to the proposal that the Indian Institutes of Technology should combine just for the rankings. Apparently he has been in touch with Phil Baty of THE who is not buying the idea.
I would disagree with Professor Ashok's argument that combining universities would not be a good idea anyway because THE scales some indicators for size. That is true but the reputation survey is not scaled and adding votes in the survey would be beneficial for a combined institution if one could be created and then accepted by the rankers . Also, you currently need 200 publications a year to be ranked by THE so there would be a case for smaller places around the world --although probably not the IITs -- banding together to get past this threshold.
Prof Pushkar observes that Indian universities have never done well in global rankings. He says:
"there is no doubt that Indian universities need to play ‘catch up’ in order to place more higher education institutions in the top 400 or 500 in the world. It is particularly confounding that a nation which has sent a successful mission to Mars does not boast of one single institution in the top 100. “Not even one!” sounds like a real downer. Whether one considers the country a wannabe “major” power or an “emerging” power (or not), it is still surprising that India’s universities do not make the grade."
and
"It is also rather curious that the “lost decades” of India’s higher education – the 1980s and the 1990s – coincided with a period when the country registered high rates of economic growth. The neglect of higher education finally ended when the National Knowledge Commission drew attention to a “quiet crisis” in its 2006 report."
Even so:
"(d)espite everything that is wrong with India’s higher education, there is no reason for panic about the absence of its universities in the top 100 or 200. Higher education experts agree that the world rankings of universities are limited in terms of what they measure. Chasing world rankings may do little to improve the overall quality of higher education in the country."
He also refers to the proposal that the Indian Institutes of Technology should combine just for the rankings. Apparently he has been in touch with Phil Baty of THE who is not buying the idea.
I would disagree with Professor Ashok's argument that combining universities would not be a good idea anyway because THE scales some indicators for size. That is true but the reputation survey is not scaled and adding votes in the survey would be beneficial for a combined institution if one could be created and then accepted by the rankers . Also, you currently need 200 publications a year to be ranked by THE so there would be a case for smaller places around the world --although probably not the IITs -- banding together to get past this threshold.
Saturday, February 01, 2014
Recent Research: Rankings Matter
According to an article by Molly Alter and Randall Reback in Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis, universities in the USA get more applications if they receive high quality-of-life ratings and fewer if their peers are highly rated academically.
True for your school: How changing reputations alter demand for selective US colleges
Abstract
There is a comprehensive literature documenting how colleges’ tuition, financial aid packages, and academic reputations influence students’ application and enrollment decisions. Far less is known about how quality-of-life reputations and peer institutions’ reputations affect these decisions. This article investigates these issues using data from two prominent college guidebook series to measure changes in reputations. We use information published annually by the Princeton Review—the best-selling college guidebook that formally categorizes colleges based on both academic and quality-of-life indicators—and the U.S. News and World Report—the most famous rankings of U.S. undergraduate programs. Our findings suggest that changes in academic and quality-of-life reputations affect the number of applications received by a college and the academic competitiveness and geographic diversity of the ensuing incoming freshman class. Colleges receive fewer applications when peer universities earn high academic ratings. However, unfavorable quality-of-life ratings for peers are followed by decreases in the college’s own application pool and the academic competitiveness of its incoming class. This suggests that potential applicants often begin their search process by shopping for groups of colleges where non-pecuniary benefits may be relatively high.
True for your school: How changing reputations alter demand for selective US colleges
Abstract
There is a comprehensive literature documenting how colleges’ tuition, financial aid packages, and academic reputations influence students’ application and enrollment decisions. Far less is known about how quality-of-life reputations and peer institutions’ reputations affect these decisions. This article investigates these issues using data from two prominent college guidebook series to measure changes in reputations. We use information published annually by the Princeton Review—the best-selling college guidebook that formally categorizes colleges based on both academic and quality-of-life indicators—and the U.S. News and World Report—the most famous rankings of U.S. undergraduate programs. Our findings suggest that changes in academic and quality-of-life reputations affect the number of applications received by a college and the academic competitiveness and geographic diversity of the ensuing incoming freshman class. Colleges receive fewer applications when peer universities earn high academic ratings. However, unfavorable quality-of-life ratings for peers are followed by decreases in the college’s own application pool and the academic competitiveness of its incoming class. This suggests that potential applicants often begin their search process by shopping for groups of colleges where non-pecuniary benefits may be relatively high.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Department of Remarkable Coincidences
On the day that QS published their top 50 under-50 universities, Times Higher Education has announced that it will be holding a Young Universities Summit in Miami in April at which the top 100 universities under 50 will be revealed.
Also, the summit will see "a consultative discussion on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation in innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the future."
Innovation? What could that mean? Maybe counting patents.
Knowledge transfer? Could this mean doing something about the citations indicator? Has someone at THE seen who contributed to multi-author massively cited publications in 2012?
on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the future.on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the future.
a consultative discussion on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the future.a consultative discussion on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the future.
ll also host a consultative discussion on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the fu
Also, the summit will see "a consultative discussion on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation in innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the future."
Innovation? What could that mean? Maybe counting patents.
Knowledge transfer? Could this mean doing something about the citations indicator? Has someone at THE seen who contributed to multi-author massively cited publications in 2012?
on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the future.on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the future.
a consultative discussion on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the future.a consultative discussion on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the future.
ll also host a consultative discussion on proposed new rankings metrics designed to better capture innovation and knowledge transfer in world rankings in the fu
QS Young Universities Rankings
QS have produced a ranking of universities founded in the last fifty years. It is based on data collected for last year's World University Rankings.
The top five are:
1. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
2. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
3. Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
4. City University of Hong Kong
5. Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea
There are no universities from Russia or Mainland China on the list although there is one from Taiwan and another from Kazakhstan.
There are nine Australian universities in the top fifty.
The top five are:
1. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
2. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
3. Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
4. City University of Hong Kong
5. Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea
There are no universities from Russia or Mainland China on the list although there is one from Taiwan and another from Kazakhstan.
There are nine Australian universities in the top fifty.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
The 25 Most International Universities
Times Higher Education has produced a succession of spin-offs from their World University Rankings: rankings of Asian universities, young universities and emerging economies universities, reputation rankings, a gender index.
Now there is a list of the world's most international universities, based on the international outlook indicator in the world rankings. This comprises data on international students, international faculty and international research collaboration.
The top five are:
1. Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
2= Swiss Federal Institute of technology Zurich
2= University of Geneva
4. National University of Singapore
5. Royal Holloway, University of London
.
Now there is a list of the world's most international universities, based on the international outlook indicator in the world rankings. This comprises data on international students, international faculty and international research collaboration.
The top five are:
1. Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
2= Swiss Federal Institute of technology Zurich
2= University of Geneva
4. National University of Singapore
5. Royal Holloway, University of London
.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
A bright idea from India
Has someone in India been reading this blog?
In a previous post I suggested that universities might improve their scores in the world rankings by merging. That would help in the QS and THE reputation surveys and the publications indicator in the Shanghai rankings.
If he is being reported correctly, Indian education minister Ashok Thakur proposes to go a step further and suggests that all the Indian Institutes of Technology should be assessed together by the international rankers, although presumably continuing to function separately in other respects. According to outlookindia:
Both QS and THE seem eager to do business in India but this is surely a non-starter. Apart from anything else, it could be followed by all the University of California and other US state university campuses, branches of the National University of Ireland and the Indian Institutes of Science and Management coming together for ranking purposes.
Also, the Secretary should consider that if any IIT follows the lead of Panjab University and joins the Hadron Collider Project or any other multi-contributor, multi-citation project, any gain in the THE citations indicator would be lost if it had to be shared with the other 12 institutes.
In a previous post I suggested that universities might improve their scores in the world rankings by merging. That would help in the QS and THE reputation surveys and the publications indicator in the Shanghai rankings.
If he is being reported correctly, Indian education minister Ashok Thakur proposes to go a step further and suggests that all the Indian Institutes of Technology should be assessed together by the international rankers, although presumably continuing to function separately in other respects. According to outlookindia:
"All the 13 IITs may compete as a single unit at the global level for a place among the best in the global ranking list.
Giving an indication in this regard, Higher Education Secretary Ashok Thakur said the idea is to position the IITs as a single unit much like the IIT brand which has become an entity in itself for finding a place among the top three best institutes the world-over.
International ranking agencies such as Times Higher Education and QS World University Ranking would be informed accordingly, he said.
Central universities and other institutes could follow on how the IITs position themselves in the ranking list, he said."
Both QS and THE seem eager to do business in India but this is surely a non-starter. Apart from anything else, it could be followed by all the University of California and other US state university campuses, branches of the National University of Ireland and the Indian Institutes of Science and Management coming together for ranking purposes.
Also, the Secretary should consider that if any IIT follows the lead of Panjab University and joins the Hadron Collider Project or any other multi-contributor, multi-citation project, any gain in the THE citations indicator would be lost if it had to be shared with the other 12 institutes.
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
Explain Please
I have often noticed that some university administrators and educational bureaucrats are clueless about international university rankings, even when their careers depend on a good performance.
The Economic Times of India reports that the Higher Education Secretary in the Human Resource Development Ministry, Ashok Thakur, said "institutions could improve their scores dramatically in Times Higher Education's globally cited World University Rankings as the British magazine has agreed to develop and include India-specific parameters for assessment from the next time."
This sounds like THE is going to insert a new indicator just for India in their world rankings, which is unbelievable. The Hindu puts it a little differently, suggesting that THE is preparing a separate ranking of Indian universities:
.
"Times Higher Education (THE) — recognised world over for its ranking of higher education institutions — has agreed to draw up an India-specific indicator that would act as a parameter for global education stakeholders and international students to judge Indian educational institutions.
This was disclosed by Higher Education Secretary in the Union Human Resource Development Ministry Ashok Thakur."
It would be interesting to find out what the minister actually said and what, if anything, THE has agreed to.
Ranking News
06/01/14
The latest Times Higher Education international reputation rankings, based on data collected for last year's World University Rankings, will be announced in Tokyo on March 6th.
The number of responses was 10,536 in 2013, down from 16,639 in 2012 and 17,554 in 2011
Why is the number of responses falling?
Is the decline linked with changes in the scores for the teaching and research indicators criteria, both of which include indicators based on the survey?
The latest Times Higher Education international reputation rankings, based on data collected for last year's World University Rankings, will be announced in Tokyo on March 6th.
The number of responses was 10,536 in 2013, down from 16,639 in 2012 and 17,554 in 2011
Why is the number of responses falling?
Is the decline linked with changes in the scores for the teaching and research indicators criteria, both of which include indicators based on the survey?
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