University rankings: good intentions, image polishing and more bureaucracy
Students can now see if their £9,000 a year fees are going to a 'gold-standard' school. But how cynical should they be?
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Rankings
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America’s worsening global reputation could put billions in US exports at risk
Surveys show Trump's election is damaging America's reputation abroad, which research suggests could deal a sharp blow to US trade.
Why new school performance tables tell us very little about school performance
Three reasons why the new progress measures may be a misleading indicator of school performance.
Under-funding, not protests, is driving South African universities down global rankings
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.
Six Australian universities make the global top 100 list
Australia had more universities in the top 100 than any other nation, apart from the US and UK.
South Africa is Africa’s largest economy (again). But what does it mean?
South Africa has claimed back its status of the largest economy in Africa, toppling Nigeria, due to the appreciation of the rand. What's prompted the movement?
Ranking African universities: hypocrisy, impunity and complicity
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.
Consumers love rankings, but they may end up doing more harm than good
Even when a hotel or restaurant ranking accurately reflects quality, consumers may be better off not knowing.
High achieving students are better off in worse schools
There is an assumption that children perform better amongst highly achieving peers. High class achievement might be thought…
Standards will slide while teacher education is used as a cash cow
Despite all the talk about improving the quality of teachers and teaching in Australia, the general downward slide of entry standards to undergraduate teacher training courses continues. While the top…
Limited numbers: what university rankings can (and can’t) tell us
The release of The Times Higher Education World University Rankings will be welcomed by many people in the Australian university sector. See the full list of The Times Higher Education World University…
World ranked Australian universities go for gold
More Australian universities are now in the top 100 ranked universities in the world, according to the Academic Ranking of…
University ranking rankles: playing the prestige game
Australian universities compete with providers all over the globe. The stakes are high and it is hard to ignore world rankings. In The Conversation recently, however, University of Southern Queensland’s…
Universities can’t all be the same – it’s time we embraced diversity
James Cook University drew a lot of attention in the higher education sector recently by publicly “opting out” of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University rankings. Their reason was simple enough…
Australia ranked 8th in the world for higher education
Australia is ranked eighth out of 48 countries in a new global measure of higher education - behind the US, Canada and Scandanavian…
Melbourne University regarded top in country, but reputation isn’t everything
Melbourne University is Australia’s most highly regarded tertiary institution among academics, according to a global survey…
Times Higher Education ranks University of Melbourne Australia’s best but experts urge caution
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings has named the University of Melbourne Australia’s best university, but…
Top contributors
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Associate Director Student Experience, Monash University
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Professor and Associate Dean Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne
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Vice-Chancellor, University of Southern Queensland
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Senior Lecturer, Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne
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Deputy Director, Office for Research, Griffith University
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Associate Director, Business Intelligence & Analytics, University of Western Australia
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Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Cass Business School, City, University of London
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Postdoctoral Fellow in Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science
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PhD student, University of Essex
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Assistant Professor of Economics, Georgetown University
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Head of School of Economic & Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand
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Professor of Microeconomics, Université Libre de Bruxelles
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Associate Professor of Marketing, Drexel University
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Professor of Higher Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal
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Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Cape Town
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