Sustainability and Indicators of Newly Formed World-Class Universities (NFWCUs) between 2010 and 2018: Empirical Analysis from the Rankings of ARWU, QSWUR and THEWUR

Abstract

In the 21st century, sustainability and indicators of world-class universities have come within the scope of an academic cottage industry. The complex problem of university sustainability implies a big challenge for countries and educators to implement important strategies in an integrated and comprehensive way. This paper highlights and analyzes the sustainability indicators of universities included as newly formed world-class universities (NFWCUs) in the top 100 from 2010 and 2018. The integration of three global ranking scales-the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), the Quacquarelli-Symonds World University Ranking (QS) and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THEs)-allows us to minimize the impact of the methodology used. This study integrates regression analysis by using statistical grouping, case studies and normative analysis. Our principal findings are as follows: among the commonly ranked top 100 universities in 2018, the ARWU, QS and THE counted 57, compared with 47 in 2010. Thus, comparing 2010 and 2018 shows that 44 of the universities appeared simultaneously in ARWU, QS and THE rankings and maintained a sustainable position in any ranking system in the family of top 100 groups. Three lower-ranked NFWCUs in the hybrid list for 2010 lost their ranking and did not appear in the group of top 100 universities in 2018, which are covered by some catch-up and young universities. The NFWCUs were from US, Australia, China, Singapore, Germany and Belgium. By systematic comparison, the US and UK continued to dominate the stability of NFWCUs in 2010 and 2018. The key sustainability indicators include a high concentration of talent, abundant resources to offer a rich learning environment and conduct advanced research. Generally, the factors were negatively associated with ranking suggesting that a higher score result in top ranking and vice versa. Teaching, research, citation and international outlook were negatively correlated with THE ranking in 2018. Similarly, Alumni and PUB were negatively associated with ARWU ranking in 2018. All factors except international student ratio were significantly correlated in QS ranking either in 2010 or 2018, where negative association was observed. The significant contribution of our study is to highlight that for the sustainability of universities, it is necessary to have an increasing emphasis on the effectiveness and efficiency of government-supported research, stability of investments and more approaches to employ international initiatives. The results also confirm the appropriate governance, developing global students and place emphasis on science and technology as additional factors in the approaches of pathways to NFWCUs, with delivery of outstanding educational programs and comprehensive internationalization as a key indicator for performance improvement and global university ranking systems.

Progress towards a World-Class Research University status: The case of Nanjing Agricultural University

“…This complex problem of university sustainability implies a big challenge for countries and educators to implement important strategies regarding developing world-class research universities (Z. Liu, Moshi, & Awuor, 2019). Studies focusing on actual sustainability of policies at national and institutional levels are rare, as most focus on how to create world-class universities and how to deal with challenges facing the creation of world-class universities (Tierney, 2014).…”

“…The concept of "world-class university" has been there for some time, and as observed by P. Altbach (2003), everyone wants a world-class university, and no country feels it can do without one. As such, various governments, as well as various stakeholders across the globe, have placed the issue of World-class universities high on their agenda in the past few decades (W. Liu, 2018;Z. Liu, Moshi, & Awuor, 2019;Shen, 2015).…”

“…Z. Liu et al (2019) Point out that the path for world-class universities is not something that can be fixed overnight. To achieve success as world-class universities, research and teaching need to be sustained and given room to innovate through faculty and programs.…”

“…Z. Liu et al (2019), for instance, notes that the rise of Universities in China, Singapore and Belgium to world-class universities is attributed to the sustainability of their efforts towards excellence. During the past eight years, these countries have stimulated and constantly supported their domestic universities to achieve world-class status.…”

“…Japan, in contrast, has experienced a drop in world ranking which according to Z. Liu et al (2019) are due to inconsistency, whereby the financial crisis has prevented additional funding expected for making significant progress on the university research activities.…”