Mis-Measuring Our Universities: Why Global University Rankings Don’t Add Up

Abstract

Draws parallels between the problematic use of GDP to evaluate economic success with the use of global university rankings to evaluate university success. Inspired by Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics, this perspective argues that the pursuit of growth as measured by such indicators creates universities that ‘grow’ up the rankings rather than those which ‘thrive’ or ‘mature.’ Such growth creates academic wealth divides within and between countries, despite the direction of growth as inspired by the rankings not truly reflecting universities’ critical purpose or contribution. Highlights the incompatibility between universities’ alignment with socially responsible practices and continued engagement with socially irresponsible ranking practices. Proposes four possible ways of engendering change in the university rankings space. Concludes by calling on leaders of ‘world-leading’ universities to join together to ‘lead the world’ in challenging global university rankings, and to set their own standards for thriving and maturing universities.

Establishing Institutional Scores With the Rigor and Transparency Index: Large-scale Analysis of Scientific Reporting Quality

“…Although indicators such as global rank, funding, and even citations may be, to some extent, richness measures [ 32 , 59 ], the RTI is not. There is no significant correlation, which leads us to believe that research quality is not entirely driven by funding (or how rich a university or country is).…”

Smashing the glasshouse. Diminishing the prestige of measures of higher education

“…Many academics consider it worrisome that universities are altering their behaviour in order to climb league tables (e.g. Jones, 2019;Gadd, 2021a). By now, HEIs have had to accept global rankings as an established part of the HE landscape (evidenced by the so called "rankings are here to stay" narrative).…”

“…By now, HEIs have had to accept global rankings as an established part of the HE landscape (evidenced by the so called "rankings are here to stay" narrative). They increasingly promote their own rank in order to attract students, and by doing so, inadvertently provide rankings with legitimacy (Gadd, 2021a). For Amsler and Bolsmann, (2012) rankings have the paradoxical effect of producing distinctions and differences in an attempt to fit into the rankings, while at the same time working towards standardisation of universities missions and activities.…”

“…The eloquently named 'World 100 Reputation Network' (https://www.theworld100.com/) for institutions ranked in the top 200 of the big global rankings is a case in point (Gadd, 2021a). The network focusses on improving and maintaining the ranking status by top performing HEI by tracking the reputation status among key audiences for its members.…”

Toward More Inclusive Metrics and Open Science to Measure Research Assessment in Earth and Natural Sciences

“…This can be clearly observed by looking at the campaign launched by Asian and African universities showcasing their achievement in the World-Class University game. All publications are strongly encouraged to be written in English-language and assessments follow those typically drafted by, and beneficial for, western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic-nations (Gadd, 2021 ).…”