tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/the-rankings-16646/articlesTHE rankings – The Conversation2021-01-06T19:00:20Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1523132021-01-06T19:00:20Z2021-01-06T19:00:20ZNew global ranking system shows Australian universities are ahead of the pack<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377124/original/file-20210105-13-jkr9tv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C107%2C5982%2C3880&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melbourne-australia-17-jul-2019-view-1589836228">EQRoy/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether it’s <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/basics/ppp.htm">purchasing power parity</a> or the <a href="https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1131&context=jsc">Happiness Index</a>, global comparisons require benchmarking. Sport does this well with World Cups and the Olympics, or better still the single ranking familiar to tennis and golf aficionados. </p>
<p>The problem with universities is there are around a dozen rankings. Each is a variable mix of research, reputation and teaching metrics, leading to quite different and confusing results.</p>
<p>University rankings certainly have their critics, who point to the potential to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/global-rankings-are-distorting-universities-decisions-says-anu-chief-20201111-p56do9.html">mislead students and distort research priorities</a>. Our newly developed Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities (<a href="https://research.unsw.edu.au/artu">ARTU</a>) overcomes the flaws of singling out performance in any one ranking. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-the-black-hole-of-global-university-rankings-rediscovering-the-true-value-of-knowledge-and-ideas-140236">Beyond the black hole of global university rankings: rediscovering the true value of knowledge and ideas</a>
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<p>This aggregated ranking helps to broaden the range of assessment — from research citations (frequency referred to in the academic literature) and impact, through to reputation, and qualitative as well as quantitative measures. It also helps address the inherent imperfections of any one of the individual ranking systems, when seen on their own.</p>
<p>The ARTU orders universities by cumulative performance over the mainstream scoring systems. Condensing the three most influential — the Quacquarelli Symonds (<a href="https://www.qs.com/rankings/">QS</a>), Times Higher Education (<a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2020/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats">THE</a>) and Academic Ranking of World Universities (<a href="http://www.shanghairanking.com/">ARWU</a>) — gives a single broad overview of a university’s position.</p>
<h2>How does Australia fare?</h2>
<p>Australia now has 13 universities in the global top 200. That’s an increase from just eight two years ago. </p>
<p>Australia ranks fourth in the world in 2020, after the US, UK and Germany. Indeed per head of population, Australia is well ahead of these nations, and second behind the Netherlands for nations of more than 10 million.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377115/original/file-20210105-17-aell35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bar chart showing Australian universities in the top 200 ARTU rankings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377115/original/file-20210105-17-aell35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377115/original/file-20210105-17-aell35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377115/original/file-20210105-17-aell35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377115/original/file-20210105-17-aell35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377115/original/file-20210105-17-aell35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377115/original/file-20210105-17-aell35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377115/original/file-20210105-17-aell35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://research.unsw.edu.au/artu/artu-results">The Conversation/ARTU/UNSW</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>This is no new entrant fluke, as Australia has seven universities in the top 100. That’s 7% of the best universities for <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/australia-population/">0.3% of the world’s population</a> (or <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2020/October/weo-report?c=512,914,612,614,311,213,911,314,193,122,912,313,419,513,316,913,124,339,638,514,218,963,616,223,516,918,748,618,624,522,622,156,626,628,228,924,233,632,636,634,238,662,960,423,935,128,611,321,243,248,469,253,642,643,939,734,644,819,172,132,646,648,915,134,652,174,328,258,656,654,336,263,268,532,944,176,534,536,429,433,178,436,136,343,158,439,916,664,826,542,967,443,917,544,941,446,666,668,672,946,137,546,674,676,548,556,678,181,867,682,684,273,868,921,948,943,686,688,518,728,836,558,138,196,278,692,694,962,142,449,564,565,283,853,288,293,566,964,182,359,453,968,922,714,862,135,716,456,722,942,718,724,576,936,961,813,726,199,733,184,524,361,362,364,732,366,144,146,463,528,923,738,578,537,742,866,369,744,186,925,869,746,926,466,112,111,298,927,846,299,582,487,474,754,698,&s=NGDPD,&sy=2018&ey=2025&ssm=0&scsm=1&scc=0&ssd=1&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1">1.6% of global GDP</a>). Two Australian institutions, Monash and UNSW, are among the five that jumped more than 20 places within the top 100 between 2012 and 2020.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/university-rankings-how-do-they-compare-and-what-do-they-mean-for-students-104011">University rankings: how do they compare and what do they mean for students?</a>
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<h2>Asia on the rise</h2>
<p>Although rankings are compiled annually, performance is a lagging indicator <a href="https://recognition.webofscience.com/awards/highly-cited/2020/methodology/">assessed</a> over <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/research-intelligence/resource-library/scopus-scival-university-rankings-ebook">several</a> <a href="http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU-Methodology-2020.html">years</a>. For instance, research citations can be judged between five to 11 years later. </p>
<p>On the one hand, this should help cushion our pandemic-affected universities from precipitous falls over the next few years. On the other, it conspires against rapid rises up the global ladder. </p>
<p>This makes the ascendancy of East Asian universities, and in particular those from China, all the more remarkable. The top two Chinese universities now come in at 18th and 27th internationally, ahead of Australia’s lead, the University of Melbourne at 29th. The next four Chinese universities have risen more than 100 spots since 2012 to crack the top 75. This is especially impressive given that research is largely judged on English-language outputs.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377299/original/file-20210106-23-1b8rycd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bar chart showing number of top 200 universities per million population by country" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377299/original/file-20210106-23-1b8rycd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377299/original/file-20210106-23-1b8rycd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377299/original/file-20210106-23-1b8rycd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377299/original/file-20210106-23-1b8rycd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377299/original/file-20210106-23-1b8rycd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377299/original/file-20210106-23-1b8rycd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377299/original/file-20210106-23-1b8rycd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://research.unsw.edu.au/artu/capita">Chart: The Conversation. Data: ARTU/UNSW</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Australia has fared well in this battle of the old versus new order. Long-established universities benefit from major endowments, philanthropy and long-run reputation. Australia’s universities in the top 200 have an average age of 78, compared to over two centuries for overseas unis in top 200. </p>
<p>China has this disadvantage too. But China does have the benefit of a booming economy, which drives top-down investment in cutting-edge technologies and academic excellence through STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) research at scale.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-china-a-threat-or-opportunity-for-australian-universities-49145">The rise of China: a threat or opportunity for Australian universities?</a>
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<h2>A measure of the value of international students</h2>
<p>It can be argued that Australian universities thrived on the back of 28 years of growth, a desirable location, political stability and relatively open borders to knowledge-based entrants. But the standout contribution has been from international students. In absolute terms universities in Australia have the <a href="https://monitor.icef.com/2019/11/australian-international-student-enrolments-up-11-through-september-2019/">second-highest number</a> after the US.</p>
<p>Simply put, the margin between international and domestic student income covers the indirect costs of strategic investment in research, teaching and other areas. Australian universities need to <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportrep/024212/toc_pdf/AustralianGovernmentFundingArrangementsfornon-NHMRCResearch.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">raise around an additional dollar</a> in support and infrastructure spending for every dollar won in grant income. And all this while fulfilling the core mission of educating local students, with <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/education/qualifications-and-work/latest-release">43% of 25-to-34-year-olds now having a bachelor degree</a>, up from 34% in 2010. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/7-6-billion-and-11-of-researchers-our-estimate-of-how-much-australian-university-research-stands-to-lose-by-2024-146672">$7.6 billion and 11% of researchers: our estimate of how much Australian university research stands to lose by 2024</a>
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<p>But coronavirus has laid bare the Achilles heel in this business model. Closed borders and geopolitical shifts have delivered a major blow to cross-subsidisation, as well as to the international collaboration so crucial for team-based research addressing the world’s grand challenges.</p>
<p>Vaccines now offer some light at the end of the tunnel, but it will be many years before the world resembles its former self, if ever. Trust in science and an R&D-led economy argue for a major role for universities in the recovery from COVID-19. But the only certainty is uncertainty.</p>
<p>So expect considerable volatility in higher education. How well our universities stack up will depend in part on how international competitors fare, and in particular their relative economies and resourcefulness. Australia looks well positioned here, but will need to weather the threats posed by contraction, domestic constraints and a challenging business model.</p>
<p>Rankings are not perfect. They do not assess all aspects of the mission of Australian universities and are rightly subject to criticism, often from institutions not doing so well. But rankings are the best surrogate measure of global standing that we have and they are here to stay, whether we like them or loathe them. </p>
<p>As the aggregate scoreboard for top universities around the globe, ARTU is well placed to track the shake-up from COVID-19 as it plays out in our universities over the next five to ten years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152313/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Fisk is a Board member of Research Australia.
Ian Jacobs is a Board member of the Group of 8 universities and Universities Australia</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Jacobs is a Board member of the Group of Eight (Go8) and Universities Australia.</span></em></p>With 13 universities in the top 200 in the new aggregated ranking system known as ARTU, Australia ranks fourth in the world and is part of a rising new order in the global higher education sector.Nicholas M Fisk, Professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Enterprise), UNSW SydneyIan Jacobs, Vice Chancellor, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1040712018-10-03T14:10:36Z2018-10-03T14:10:36ZRethinking university rankings: we need to talk about quality (and inequality) of teaching<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238897/original/file-20181002-85617-rznkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Do universities reproduce inequality or can they disrupt it? </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each year the release of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings generates a great deal of interest, excitement – and debate.
This year all eyes are on <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/world-university-rankings-2019-results-announced">China</a> which, according to the 2018 rankings, “steps up its ascent” as “East closes in on West”. China’s Tsinghua University in 22nd place has overtaken all of its other Asian competitors. </p>
<p>Only one African institution, the <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2019/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats">University of Cape Town</a>, made it to the top 200. Other good performers include University of Witwatersrand and University of Stellenbosch, which are both in the top 350. </p>
<p>But what does this mean? Parents, guardians and potential students may want to know what, if any, relationship is there between the rankings and an institution’s quality of teaching? Can we assume that highly ranked universities also have high quality teaching? And conversely, do we assume that low-ranked universities have poor quality teaching?</p>
<p>Ranking and quality of teaching has been subject of much <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180814184535721">controversy</a>. The Times Higher Education rankings and similar ones are heavily weighted for research. Teaching, which “assesses the learning environment”, accounts for only 30% of a university’s overall ranking.</p>
<p>This is then broken down into the following key performance indicators: reputation survey; staff-to-student ratio; doctorate-to-bachelor’s ratio; the ratio of doctorates awarded to academic staff and institutional income. All of these are related to input factors – what is required to teach, like academics and money. None of the indicators have anything to do with outputs – the results of teaching, for example, course success rates, time to completion and graduate employment. </p>
<p>Essentially, the rankings heavily favour research-intensive, well-resourced universities. They say nothing about the actual quality of teaching as experienced by students or academics.</p>
<p>So, is there a relationship between rankings and quality of teaching? It depends what is meant by quality of teaching. </p>
<h2>Quality of teaching as access to powerful knowledge</h2>
<p>A recent book by three British academics, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/quality-in-undergraduate-education-9781474214490/">Quality in Undergraduate Education</a>, explores the relationship between the quality of education and institutional status. </p>
<p>At stake is the role of higher education in relation to inequality: do universities simply reproduce inequality or can they disrupt it? The authors investigated this vexed and complex issue through a three-year longitudinal study of four higher education institutions in the UK.</p>
<p>Two were “high status” institutions and two were “low status”. High status institutions were the older, research-intensive, typically wealthier universities and the low status were more vocationally-oriented universities established from 1992. The trio analysed interviews with academics and students, observations of classrooms and curriculum documentation, including assessment.</p>
<p>In contrast to the Times Higher Education rankings which focus on inputs and reputation, their definition of quality focused on outputs or products. Quality being the extent to which teaching gives students’ access to “<a href="https://eddieplayfair.com/2015/08/19/what-is-powerful-knowledge/">powerful knowledge</a>”.</p>
<p>Powerful knowledge, they argue, is when theory and everyday common sense knowledge align. Quality teaching enables students to meaningfully traverse the gap between theory and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-class-and-social-capital-affect-university-students-92602">lived experience</a> – their own and others’.</p>
<p>The trio’s findings showed no clear relationship between university status and quality teaching. In fact, one of the low-status universities best showcased the powerful and life-changing nature of knowledge.</p>
<h2>Redefining quality and inequality</h2>
<p>The study should cause us to pause and challenge the assumptions we make about rankings, status and the quality of the student experience. Is there a relationship between the rankings and the actual quality of teaching? It depends on how quality of teaching is defined. </p>
<p>Assessing the quality of teaching in ways that can be standardised and compared isn’t simple. That’s why we often end up valuing what we can measure, instead of measuring what we value. Measuring the quality of teaching on the basis of input factors as the Times Higher Education rankings, is not enough. There are “output” indicators that can be used – for example, dropout and retention, student experience surveys and graduate employability. </p>
<p>The study also raises another question, what is the relationship between quality and addressing inequality? </p>
<p>In South Africa we know this kind of output data when separated out by race reveals persistent <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/serious-social-inequality-persists-south-african-universities">inequalities</a> with racial differentiations in academic performance. Tackling these challenges to ensure <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/scales-of-justice/9780231146807">parity of participation</a> is a hallmark of quality teaching. </p>
<p>As for the Times Higher Education rankings, there may be <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/were-pioneering-new-way-measure-teaching-quality-across-europe">changes</a> on the horizon. New ways of measuring teaching, such as student surveys, are being piloted. Duncan Ross, data analytics director for the Times Higher Education rankings, <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/world-university-rankings-2019-pursuit-more-significant-figures">announced</a> a review of the rankings’ methodology for 2020. As an example, he raised the issue of whether universities’ gender balance should be assessed and asked:</p>
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<p>Can a university that isn’t adequately serving half the population be said to be world-leading? </p>
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<p>The same question can be asked, how and to what extent are first generation university, black and minority students being served? With inequality as one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century, should this not also be a feature of world-leading universities?</p>
<p>It would be a significant advance if these increasingly influential rankings could showcase those institutions as “world-leading” who are making a contribution to social justice through the quality of their teaching.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104071/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suellen Shay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>University rankings must include quality teaching and indicators that address inequality as measuring tools.Suellen Shay, Associate Professor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/659612016-09-26T13:22:33Z2016-09-26T13:22:33ZUnder-funding, not protests, is driving South African universities down global rankings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139151/original/image-20160926-2470-1ic1zw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ongoing student protests are unlikely to have been a direct cause of universities’ slide down global rankings tables.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Mike Hutchings </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The most widely respected world university rankings have all recently published their latest results. The release of the <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings">Times Higher Education</a> 2016-17 and <a href="http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/university-news/qs-world-university-rankings-20162017-global-press-release">Quacquarelli Symonds 2016-17</a> rankings have coincided with a resurgence in <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/varsities-to-stay-shut-amid-uncertainty-over-protests-20160925">protests</a> at many of South Africa’s universities.</p>
<p>Most of South Africa’s universities have dropped down these ranking tables.</p>
<p>Some people <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2016/09/23/Did-student-activist-Qwabe-influence-world-university-rankings">argue</a> that the protests – which relate to fees, access and transformation and have occurred on and off for the past 18 months – are having a direct effect on universities’ global standing on rankings tables.</p>
<p>But it’s unlikely that the protests themselves are directly affecting rankings. Instead, decades of government under-funding in the higher education sector may be at least partly to blame.</p>
<p>The University of Cape Town (UCT), where I am a deputy vice-chancellor, has handed <a href="http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=9955">a memorandum</a> to the Department of Higher Education and Training. It states:</p>
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<p>We believe that government has not acted decisively to ensure sustainable and adequate funding to address the systemic crisis in the higher education sector. Government has placed an undue burden on students, parents and universities to fund higher education.</p>
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<p>This may seem unfair: the government has dramatically increased the amount of money it gives to universities. But so have students. And educational inflation has played a part too. In real terms, the amount universities receive in state subsidy as a proportion of their total income has <a href="http://businesstech.co.za/news/general/102010/what-you-need-to-know-about-university-fees-in-south-africa/">declined from 49% in 2000 to 40% in 2012</a>. </p>
<p>Funding has a direct effect on many of the indicators that are used to measure performance in world university rankings. With less funding, staff-student ratios rise. Top staff, who produce the most papers, leave for more lucrative salaries abroad. Universities can’t afford to send their academics to many conferences, so fewer conference papers are produced.</p>
<h2>How rankings are calculated</h2>
<p>UCT has, for some time, been able to compensate for the drop in government funding for research. We’ve done this, for instance, by working hard to increase external income – particularly research grants and donations. This has been remarkably successful.</p>
<p>But not all South African universities are in a position to do this. And a point will be reached where external income, for which there is increasingly tough competition, is not enough. UCT may have reached that point. Some other universities will have reached it long ago.</p>
<p>Universities don’t yet need to despair. First of all, a drop in rankings does not mean a drop in actual performance. On most of the indicators, in most of the rankings, UCT continues to improve as it has done for many years. A number of our sister universities are, likewise, improving across several indicators: producing more papers, bringing in more income, increasing their proportion of postgraduate students – all important indicators of research performance. </p>
<p>But it is perfectly possible for an institution to improve its scores and still see a significant drop in the rankings. This is because scores are ranked and so performance is relative. If other institutions have improved their scores even more than yours, they will climb above your institution in the rankings.</p>
<p>This is important. It’s exactly what is happening to South African universities. Institutions from elsewhere in the world are improving much more significantly. And it is no coincidence that the countries which are seeing a rapid rise in the rankings are mostly those that have chosen to invest heavily in their universities.</p>
<p>The most startling example is China, whose various projects to produce top-ranked universities, such as the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jnylander/2015/09/14/chinas-investment-in-elite-universities-pays-off-new-ranking/#76afb5f875f2">C9 initiative</a>, are paying off spectacularly. Another well-performing BRICS competitor, India, spends 1.23% of its gross domestic produce (GDP) on tertiary education. This is compared to South Africa’s weak <a href="http://www.unisa.ac.za/contents/projects/docs/National%20Plan%20Higher%20Education.pdf">0.74%</a>.</p>
<p>After the release of its latest rankings Quacquarelli Symonds <a href="http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/university-news/qs-world-university-rankings-20162017-global-press-release">argued</a> that levels of investment determine which institutions progress and which regress. Top American universities, which have significant endowments to rely on, and Asian universities, which have benefited from significant public funding, are rising. Many Western European universities, on the other hand, have seen cuts to public funding for research and are losing ground.</p>
<h2>Reputation matters</h2>
<p>There is one way in which the student protests themselves, rather than the under-funding that caused them, may directly affect some of the indicators by which universities are measured. </p>
<p>Each ranking uses different indicators to measure a university’s performance. But on the whole they are a combination of hard data, such as citations – the number of times an author has been cited, or referred to – and ratio of staff to students. There are also more qualitative “reputation” indicators. These are achieved by asking academics and employers to list the top institutions in their fields.</p>
<p>It is these “reputation” indicators that <em>could</em> be directly affected by the protests. Although they are intended to be objective, it does not require a great stretch of the imagination to believe that some academics who see South African institutions in constant crisis, with lectures cancelled, exams postponed and buildings burned, are affected at least subconsciously. </p>
<p>South African institutions were particularly hard hit in the reputation indicator in THE’s latest rankings. However, some universities that were affected by the protests bucked the trend: the University of the Witwatersrand rose in the THE rankings. So there is no clear evidence of a causal relationship between the protests and the universities’ performance in the rankings.</p>
<h2>But does it matter?</h2>
<p>In assessing the extent to which #feesmustfall protests might have affected South African universities’ rankings, I have left aside the much larger and more important question of whether it matters. </p>
<p>Universities certainly regard rankings with a measure of caution. Rankings are very imperfect measurements of excellence. They take no account of the contexts in which universities find themselves, particularly those based in developing or emerging economies. They do not measure some of the functions of a university that the sector would regard as critical: for instance, whether the research a university undertakes makes a difference, or whether the graduates it produces are thoughtful and productive citizens.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the drop in rankings has been greeted with <a href="http://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/137695/what-the-rest-of-the-world-thinks-about-south-africas-universities/">consternation</a> in the media. The coincidence with the university protests could lead to a damaging narrative that the country’s universities are inevitably “going to the dogs”. </p>
<p>I can categorically state that UCT is nowhere near that kind of precipitous decline. However, if under-funding from government continues and the issue of fees is not resolved, I am less confident of our and our sister universities’ future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65961/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danie Visser does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s unlikely that student protests are directly affecting South African universities’ rankings. Instead, decades of government underfunding in higher education may be at least partly to blame.Danie Visser, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/627092016-07-24T20:02:23Z2016-07-24T20:02:23ZRanking African universities: hypocrisy, impunity and complicity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131256/original/image-20160720-31146-1w00d5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ranking organisations call the shots about which universities are ‘best’.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly ten years ago I confronted an expert about what she claimed was an “African phenomenon” in higher education. She was reluctant to provide me with the raw data upon which this “phenomenon” was premised, so I vigorously contested her claim.</p>
<p>Later I managed to access that data through a credible international organisation. The conclusion she’d reached about Africa was based on feedback from just one country, Algeria. </p>
<p>I am sharing this story because so much of the talk about ranking higher education institutions in Africa goes on without meaningful, let alone credible, data. Research <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20111123211515245">has found</a> that some African universities can’t answer basic questions about their own operations because they lack data.</p>
<p>This data deficit isn’t limited to higher education; it’s a <a href="https://theconversation.com/studying-africa-by-numbers-can-be-misleading-what-can-be-done-about-it-62638">huge problem</a> across sectors in Africa.</p>
<p>Yet ranking bodies go on making statements about which universities are “best” or “most research intensive”. They seem to be unencumbered by a lack of data. These bodies also disregard universities in Africa’s many <a href="http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/countries_by_languages.htm#French">French-</a> and <a href="http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/countries_by_languages.htm#Portuguese">Portuguese-speaking</a> countries. Instead they focus on institutions that teach in English.</p>
<p>When Times Higher Education ventured into Africa in 2015, just months after the high-profile <a href="http://summit.trustafrica.org/">African Higher Education Summit</a> in Dakar, Senegal, it boasted that it was “moving Africa’s universities forward and building a shared global legacy”. Another ranking organisation, QS, has also started an African ranking system. Its <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20160416154105336">stated mission</a> is to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>build world-class universities for … African communities through global partnership and collaboration.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Certainly, the academic community must support as many meaningful summits, conferences and symposia as possible. These should be welcomed and encouraged. But it’s arrogant and hypocritical for ranking institutions to declare that they’re building Africa’s legacy or its global partnerships on the continent’s behalf. </p>
<h2>Impunity</h2>
<p>In March 2016 <em>New Vision</em>, a widely circulated East African newspaper, published an article headlined “<a href="http://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1420701/makerere-world-development-studies">Makerere among world’s top 50 for development studies</a>”. The QS ranking agency placed Uganda’s Makerere University above some of the US’s “leading” universities like Johns Hopkins and Duke on its list of best places to pursue a development studies degree. I am as sentimental as anyone else in Uganda and on the continent more broadly about this “achievement”. If only it was credible: on QS’s overall list, Makerere occupied position 1,156! </p>
<p>A couple of years ago another ranker, <a href="http://www.webometrics.info/en">Webometrics</a>, put my own institution – South Africa’s University of Kwazulu-Natal – at the very top of its Africa list. A year later, the university didn’t even make the top five. But in that same period it appeared to actually scale up, not down, in the areas that Webometrics measured. </p>
<p>African institutions go up and down the scale without an iota of explanation. Universities that are known to be struggling and facing massive challenges have previously appeared high up on the Times Higher Education <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/best-universities-in-africa-2016">list</a>. An institution that was described by one of its former CEOs as a “catastrophic failure” was among the list’s top performers.</p>
<p>South Africa has some dozen fine institutions. Accordingly, and as expected, these have <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/best-universities-in-africa-2016">dominated</a> the African higher education ranking scale. But as I’ve <a href="http://reference.sabinet.co.za/webx/access/electronic_journals/high/high_v29_n5_a2.pdf">pointed out before</a>, the risk of rankings is that they dangerously conceal these South African universities’ serious shortcomings, particularly in graduate education.</p>
<p>These lists, then, seem to be designed with impunity by the rankers. </p>
<h2>Complicity</h2>
<p>These so called “legacy building efforts for Africa” are mounted in alliance with the continent’s universities. The African institutions that are partaking in this futile game obviously can’t be stopped from engaging in such exercises. But it’s lamentable that a couple of credible players are part of this folly: it comes with real consequences of unduly distracting, and even forcing, universities from their stated objectives and broader stakeholder expectations. </p>
<p>The institutions and high-profile personalities involved in the events orchestrated by ranking agencies need to be more cautious and more responsible in their engagements. And their declaration of building Africa’s legacy must be categorically rejected outright. </p>
<p>At <a href="http://lseafricasummit.com/">a summit</a> hosted by the London School of Economics in April 2016, a representative for Times Higher Education said the organisation would establish an advisory committee during its <a href="http://www.theworldsummitseries.com/events/africa-universities-summit/event-summary-a54af174228b4be3b1f3940b326881eb.aspx">meeting</a> later that month in Ghana. </p>
<p>This committee’s role is supposedly to oversee Times Higher Education’s adventure in ranking African universities. Presumably, having African universities more actively involved may improve the process. But as long as ranking organisations call the shots and act with impunity, even these sorts of cosmetic interventions may not help.</p>
<h2>African universities must be more vocal</h2>
<p>It may be true that higher education rankings are here to stay. It is conceivable that they may even flourish as interest in – and the implications of – rankings grow. </p>
<p>With this growth there may well be a proliferation of higher education ranking bodies. I wish for a “thousand flowers to bloom” in the ranking business – only because, at the end, they may not mean much. Less cynically, the proliferation of these bodies may push most, if not all, to be more responsible, more accountable and more truly consultative.</p>
<p>For now, African higher education stakeholders must be vocal in rejecting flawed and <a href="https://theconversation.com/ranking-african-universities-is-a-futile-endeavour-46692">massively defective</a> ranking instruments that are absurdly sold as building the continent’s legacy. The ranking entities have set their sights on several objectives; advancing Africa’s legacy, whatever that may be, is not among them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62709/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damtew Teferra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is arrogant and hypocritical for ranking institutions to declare that they’re building Africa’s legacy or its global partnerships on the continent’s behalf.Damtew Teferra, Professor of Higher Education, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/462162015-08-21T04:39:00Z2015-08-21T04:39:00ZA unique approach is required when ranking Africa’s universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92251/original/image-20150818-12433-19f4zlh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Any successful ranking system must shine a light on African universities' different priorities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a new player on the university ranking block – and it focuses exclusively on Africa. The first Times Higher Education African ranking system was unveiled in late July during a conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the days leading up to the conference, <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/south-african-institutions-top-rankings-pilot">a snapshot</a> was released that showed the continent’s top institutions based on a single metric.</p>
<p>Both this snapshot and the bigger idea of the ranking system have already <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2015081509202643">sparked widespread debate</a> across the continent. This is in keeping with global trends: even at an international level, rankings remain a widely contested and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/sep/21/university-world-rankings">frequently criticised</a> practice.</p>
<p>But for all the complaints and despite the <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130627211805732">documented shortcomings</a> of such systems, rankings seem likely to be with us for a while. It is crucial that institutions around Africa do not shy away from robust and critical debate while these continental rankings take shape.</p>
<h2>Africa rising</h2>
<p>Existing ranking systems <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2015/world-ranking/methodology#tabs">focus</a> on teaching and the overall learning environment; the volume of research universities produce and how much income this brings to the institution. They also track the number of times a university’s research academics are cited in journals and papers.</p>
<p>Other systems rate a university’s global <a href="http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings-articles/world-university-rankings/qs-world-university-rankings-methodology">reputation</a> among academics and prospective employers.</p>
<p>To date, very few African universities have featured on these global rankings. The reasons for this are complex. One clear contributing factor is the institutions’ diverse priorities when compared to global elite research universities. </p>
<p>African universities are operating in developing economies. Research <a href="http://chet.org.za/books/universities-and-economic-development-africa-0">shows</a> that higher education can contribute strongly to economic growth. More universities on the continent are <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-african-doctorates-and-doctoral-candidates-are-changing-44686">realising</a> that they must produce graduates who can get to work in their own countries and <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-need-to-adapt-to-become-part-of-shaping-a-better-future-45254">tackle issues</a> like poverty and inequality.</p>
<p>These institutions are frequently not as well resourced as their international counterparts.</p>
<p>Given all of this, it is important for any African ranking system to feature a tailored range of metrics that will allow these different missions to be rewarded. It also needs to take into account how these universities are working to meet national goals and the continent’s needs. </p>
<p>Such a system will allow Africa to showcase its flagship institutions while also acknowledging economic contribution, civic engagement and Africa’s unique challenges in the ranking process.</p>
<p>For any ranking system to benefit Africa it must also seek to align itself with the broader vision that the continent has for higher education. This is articulated in the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063, whose <a href="http://agenda2063.au.int/en/vision">theme</a> is “The Africa We Want”.</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.trustafrica.org/Fr/les-ressources2/actualites/item/3195-declaration-and-action-plan-from-the-1-st-african-higher-education-summit-on-revitalizing-higher-education-for-africa-s-future">action plan</a> for higher education on the continent for the same period was drafted at the first African Higher Education Summit held in Dakar during March 2015. This plan is clearly aligned with the AU’s agenda.</p>
<p>This kind of synergy is important. Those in the higher education sector must work together to attain targets instead of splitting their efforts and ultimately diluting the results.</p>
<p>In the same way, an African ranking system must be clearly linked to higher education’s ideals of relevance to society and contribution to the development agenda. The ranking system must serve as a driver of goal attainment rather than a distraction from it.</p>
<h2>Collaboration matters</h2>
<p>The continental action plan adopted in Dakar calls for the development of 200 hubs or centres of excellence. These institutions should produce knowledge, encourage active citizenship and work to meet the continent’s needs. The plan also recognises that producing PhD graduates will be key to growing Africa.</p>
<p>These two agendas must be relentlessly driven so that the continent can be competitive in the global knowledge economy. They also present a useful opportunity to investigate how a ranking system can serve as a catalyst for collaboration rather than simply promoting competition.</p>
<p>Collaboration is key: it will help African universities to maximise their output and impact in the context of limited resources. Universities could award joint PhDs to acknowledge and reward such collaboration. </p>
<p>Another area that could influence a ranking system is the social impact of an institution’s activities. So, how employable are its graduates within a field of study? Is it producing researchers that can contribute to global scientific research?</p>
<p>Ultimately, African universities must be dedicated to designing a contextualised system that will not only measure traditional academic performance. Any successful ranking system should also incentivise institutions to commit themselves to contributing to positive and constructive outcomes for their graduates, communities, countries – and their continent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyrone Pretorius does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is crucial that institutions around Africa do not shy away from robust and critical debate while continental university rankings take shape.Tyrone Pretorius, Vice Chancellor and Rector, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/411902015-05-05T04:53:33Z2015-05-05T04:53:33ZWhy are young Australian unis punching above their weight?<p>The <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2015/one-hundred-under-fifty">latest Times Higher Education rankings</a> of universities under 50 years old paints a positive picture for the Australian higher education sector. </p>
<p>Of the Top 100 Under 50, Australia has more high-ranking universities (16) than any other country. What is it about the Australian higher education system that allows new universities to flourish more so than in the US or UK? What does the THE Top 100 Under 50 result say about our “need” for reform in the higher education sector?</p>
<p>To put this result into perspective, the UK, with nearly triple our population (64 million) and well over triple the number of universities (162), had 15 listed in the Top 100 Under 50. </p>
<p>The United States, with a population of 320 million and over 4,700 degree-granting public and private universities, liberal arts and community colleges, could only manage seven in the Top 100 Under 50.</p>
<p>Admittedly, none of Australia’s 16 are in that list’s top 20. UTS came closest (21st). Higher honours instead go to universities across a host of countries including Switzerland, Korea, Germany, France, Turkey, the Netherlands, the UK and US. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, with 16 in the Top 100 Under 50, the Australian picture is arresting: of consistent, strong overall standards beyond the country’s older universities, of high quality across many young institutions – not just a couple of standout cases, as is typical for most other countries on the list.</p>
<p>Given that, comparatively, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-high-road-and-low-road-of-public-investment-in-universities-28953">Australia grossly under-invests in higher education as a percentage of GDP</a>, the result is all the more remarkable. We haven’t bought our way to success. What, then, are the factors that allow our young universities to perform so well?</p>
<h2>Geography and population structure</h2>
<p>Unlike several other countries represented that have only a couple of outstanding young universities, Australian has a very dispersed population, long distances between cities and in between universities, and suburban catchment areas that generate a strong base for both metropolitan and regional universities. </p>
<p>This is a breeding ground for replication and consistency rather than concentration. Australia’s entrants in the Top 100 Under 50 come from wide and far with representatives from state capital cities (UTS, QUT, RMIT, UniSA, Flinders, Murdoch), the regions (Newcastle, Wollongong, Deakin, CDU) and also relative newcomers (RMIT, Swinburne, Edith Cowan).</p>
<h2>Cultural factors</h2>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/0033-0124.00265/abstract">English language provides a massive cultural advantage</a> over the French, German or Asian counterparts, comparatively enhancing our international activity and research publishing success. </p>
<p>Australian researchers across the board also tend to be outward-looking and collaborative internationally – out of necessity given distance and limited critical mass.</p>
<p>Australian universities are also arguably less burdened by hierarchical thinking, or dependent on inherited wealth or private benefactors that perpetuate elite privilege in countries such as the UK and US. </p>
<p>It would be naïve to assume that the Australian higher education system is somehow a classless utopia of equal opportunity. Regional and socioeconomic disadvantages do exist.</p>
<p>Yet in general Australia has a healthy degree of respect for quality and achievement from wherever it emanates. High-quality researchers across many disciplines view young, regional and technical universities as viable places to base productive and intense research careers. </p>
<p>They are often seeking a balance between work and lifestyle, fresh or nimble workplaces, or are attracted to specialisms that young universities have cultivated as a consequence of being relatively fleet-footed. </p>
<h2>Public subsidy and a robust regulatory environment</h2>
<p>Third, and perhaps most influential, has been what the THE rankings editor, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/11570249/Top-100-new-universities-the-list-in-full.html">Phil Baty, has described</a> as “a richer and more diverse university mix” produced by the relatively flat playing field that has prevailed in Australia since the Dawkins reforms of the 1980s. </p>
<p>We have had a regulated, limited number of institutions and a long period of consistent, if constrained, public subsidy base. From this Australia has been able to steadily foster new, high-quality universities of diverse sorts, in diverse locations – without completely opening up the sector to a “long tail” of sub-standard, non-research-intensive (dare I say, American-style) college institutions.</p>
<h2>Deregulation - or renewed public investment for dispersed excellence?</h2>
<p>All this again raises the substance and relevance of the drawn-out higher education deregulation debate. </p>
<p>The rankings results expose the weakness in arguments in support of deregulation: that a system of dispersed universities somehow hampers capacity to climb ranks, generate diversity or achieve critical mass sufficient for excellence.</p>
<p>Australian universities are already among the absolute top ranks in a host of disciplines, as <a href="http://www.topuniversities.com/subject-rankings/2015">QS subject ranking</a> results show. They have done so without the phenomenal benefactors <a href="https://theconversation.com/top-ranked-universities-have-more-money-than-australian-unis-could-dream-of-39189">present in the United States</a>. </p>
<p>And more to the point, a well-regulated, stable, publicly subsidised higher education system has produced consistency, diversity and quality just about everywhere else in the system too.</p>
<p>Australia has a substantive, consistent and diffuse knowledge estate of profound benefit to the nation. We should not think of it as a cost or a drain on resources. We need debate about funding reform - but it must also be about why sustained public investment is worth it, and the benefits of an overall robust research landscape.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41190/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Gibson has received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>The latest Times Higher Education rankings of universities under 50 years old paints a positive picture for the Australian higher education sector.Chris Gibson, Director, UOW Global Challenges Program & Professor of Human Geography, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.