World University Rankings: Reflections on Teaching and Learning as the Cinderella function in the South African Higher Education System

Abstract

Not much has been devoted to teaching and learning in the world university ranking debate. This theoretical article is based on a qualitative research approach with a case study research design guiding the literature review on global ranking systems. The findings indicate that in the South African context, ethical decision-making should guide decisions regarding whether a university should be ranked. As market leaders, global rankings have the potential to set new trends in rankings that focus on teaching and learning as essential functions of a university on par with research. In addition, the importance accorded to global rankings should not be considered for a few universities but for the value they add to the entire South African higher education (HE) system.

Strengthening the university competitiveness in the Czech Republic

“…The second highest number was in the combination of interesting lectures and a weaker offer of subjects (26) and the third in the case of quality teachers and lengthy processing through the study department (22 students). For female students, the following combinations of strengths and weaknesses are most common: quality teachers + offer of courses (23), interesting lectures + offer of courses (20), quality teachers + lengthy processing through the study department (13), interesting lectures + lengthy processing through the study department (13). In male students, the following combinations of strengths and weaknesses are most common: quality teachers + offer of subjects ( 29), interesting lectures + many seminar papers (10), no other combination showed a frequency greater than 10 among male students.…”

“…22 Mossa also talks about the problematic criteria of global rankings, as he does not deal much with teaching and the quality of such, which should be given the same importance as research. 23 A similar view is shared by Shin, who also criticizes the idea of evaluation and the existing methodology for assessing the quality of university performance. 24 Other authors state that since the creation of global rankings, it has been impossible for universities to ignore various national and international comparisons.…”

Reimagining university–community engagement

“…Progressively, the relevance of academic work is linked to productivity as measured by rating and ranking scales and what Gonzales and Nunez (2014) call the "rankings regime" which reinforces the managerial culture in higher education (Ordorika and Lloyd 2015). Moosa (2018) discusses how this regime perpetuates historical inequalities between universities and within universities. She writes, "... some South African universities are pursuing a global presence which may be to the detriment of national priorities such as the call for decolonisation of institutions and the curriculum, the student fee crisis, considerations of free HE, student success and improving teaching and learning" (Moosa 2018, 52).…”