Introduction To He Higher Education Ranking

The growing impact of university rankings on public policy and on students choices has stirred controversy worldwide. This unique volume brings together the architects of university rankings and their critics to debate the uses and misuses of existing rankings. With voices from five continents, it provides a comprehensive overview of current thinking on the subject and sets out alternative approaches and complementary tools for a new era of transparent and informed use of higher education ranking tables.

Delivering quality education to students while remaining competitive at an international level is only one of the many challenges universities face today. To attain their goals, universities must adopt new strategies to achieve academic excellence. World University Rankings and the Future of Higher Education is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly research on the implementation of a ranking system for higher education institutions, providing a thorough overview of the impacts of these rankings on educational quality. Exploring the benefits and challenges of this system in a global context, this book is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, students, administrators, and policy makers interested in the effects of university rankings in the education sector and beyond.

For many institutions, to ignore your university’s ranking is to become invisible, a risky proposition in a competitive search for funding. But rankings tell us little if anything about the education, scholarship, or engagement with communities offered by a university. Drawing on a range of research and inquiry-based methods, Global University Rankings and the Politics of Knowledge exposes how universities became servants to the education industry and its impact. Conceptually unique in its scope, Global University Rankings and the Politics of Knowledge addresses the lack of empirical research behind university and journal ranking systems. Chapters from internationally recognized scholars in decolonial studies provide readers with robust frameworks to understand the intersections of coloniality and Indigeneity and how they play out in higher education. Contributions from diverse geographical and disciplinary contexts explore the political economy of rankings within the contexts of the Global North and South, and examine alternatives to media-driven rankings. This book allows readers to consider the intersections of power and knowledge within the wider contexts of politics, culture, and the economy, to explore how assumptions about gender, social class, sexuality, and race underpin the meanings attached to rankings, and to imagine a future that confronts and challenges cognitive, environmental, and social injustice.

In the ever-evolving environment of higher education, where institutions are motivated by the pursuit of excellence and global recognition, the HE Higher Education Ranking stands as a transforming force. This book, "Introduction to HE Higher Education Ranking: Methodology, Criteria, and Indicators," beckons readers into a profound exploration of this innovative ranking system, offering a comprehensive understanding of its origins, methodologies, and the complex relationships that shape its significance in the field of global academia. Our voyage begins by diving into the historical fabric of higher education rankings, tracking the growth of these assessments as they have come to play a vital role in creating institutional identities. Against this context, the HE Higher Education Ranking emerges as a modern answer, a product of painstaking planning and a realization of the growing demands within the academic scene. Established in 2022, the debut edition, presented in April 2023, constituted a watershed moment—an expression of the ranking's dedication to providing a novel, complete view of the institutional position. The story unfolds beyond the mere presentation of numerical placements. This book serves as a guide, introducing varied readers—academics, institutional leaders, students, and enthusiasts—to the sophisticated mechanisms that govern the HE Higher Education Ranking. As we go across its techniques, criteria, and indicators, the goal is to transcend the surface-level comprehension of rankings, unraveling the layers that contribute to a complete assessment of academic institutions on a global basis. The HE Higher Education Ranking, with its genesis in the recent past, represents a commitment to responding to the difficulties of modern higher education. It recognizes that excellence is multi-faceted, reaching beyond established measurements. This appreciation is integrated into the very fabric of the ranking, molding its criteria to encompass the many contributions that institutions contribute to the educational scene. The book contextualizes this philosophy, outlining the motivations and concepts that inspire the HE Higher Education Ranking in its objective to present a more comprehensive assessment of academic institutions. As we move forward through the parts, the narrative evolves to confront basic problems that go beyond the numerical rankings. Why should there be a thorough and holistic approach to rankings? What is the significance of universities in participating in such assessments? Why precisely 25 criteria, and how manageable are the 138 indications that form this grading system? These questions lead us to study not just the "what" but also the "why" and "how" of the HE Higher Education Ranking, diving into the complexities that define its purpose and scope. The book strives to offer a comprehensive picture, addressing issues, investigating rationales, and engaging with the numerous facets of the HE Higher Education Ranking. It is not only a static documentation of rankings but an active inquiry, an invitation to comprehend, analyze, and participate in the ongoing conversation about the future of higher education assessment. Through this investigation, we uncover the importance of rankings in shaping institutional behavior, decision-making processes, and the future trends that will alter the landscape of academic evaluations. In simple terms, "Introduction to HE Higher Education Ranking" is an intellectual expedition—a journey into the heart of educational assessment. It is an investigation of the ranking's position as a transformative force, impacting the discourse on the future of higher education in an interconnected global arena. As we immerse ourselves in the pages that follow, we expose the layers that make the HE Higher Education Ranking an invaluable compass, guiding institutions, educators, and stakeholders toward greatness in the evolving world of academia.

Higher Education Institutions simultaneously critique and participate in national and international rankings of universities. However, this creates a difficult situation since if universities do participate in rankings they acquiesce to a system based in media logics that has little to do with academic norms of research. If they do not participate in the rankings they risk losing public funding, students and donors in an increasingly competitive and globalized environment. This book delves into the influence of journalists, business tycoons and multinational corporations in defining what world class is and how it will be measured. Rankings provide us with a rich study for understanding how universities define, deploy and manage their assets and liabilities in a mediatized globalized economy.

This book adopts a qualitative case study approach to provide the readers with a systematic delineation and interpretation of the implications of the university ranking phenomenon for Taiwan’s higher education system. It reviews the literature on different theories concerning the global transformation of higher education and presents basic information on higher education in Taiwan. The author develops a four-dimensional framework for the analysis of the ranking phenomenon in the island-state. First, the technological/ecological dimension aims to look into how the rankings have impacted Taiwan’s higher education based on empirical findings from five Taiwanese public universities. Next, the technological/geographical dimension examines how Taiwan can use rankings to promote its interests in global higher education. The two conceptual dimensions focus on the relationship between the rankings and power in higher education. They show how the phenomenon can be read and explained through theoretical lenses from ecological and geographical perspectives. From an ecological perspective, the empirical evidence suggests that the influence of rankings varies throughout the academic hierarchy in Taiwan. The theoretical analysis then illustrates the relationship between the ranking phenomenon and the power structure in academic hierarchy. Geographically, while the empirical analysis is based on data from Taiwan, the theoretical analysis offers essential insights that help readers to understand the changing global landscape of higher education and its implications in East Asia.

This ground-breaking and exhaustive analysis of university ranking surveys scrutinizes their theoretical bases, methodological issues, societal impact, and policy implications, providing readers with a deep understanding of these controversial comparators. The authors propose that university rankings are misused by policymakers and institutional leaders alike. They assert that these interested parties overlook the highly problematic internal logic of ranking methodologies even as they obsess over the surveys’ assessment of their status. The result is that institutions suffer from short-termism, realigning their resources to maximize their relative rankings. While rankings are widely used in policy and academic discussions, this is the first book to explore the theoretical and methodological issues of ranking itself. It is a welcome contribution to an often highly charged debate. Far from showing how to manipulate the system, this collection of work by key researchers aims to enlighten interested parties.

Gathering unique and thoughtful contributions from leading international scholars, this timely Research Handbook offers diverse perspectives on university rankings twenty years after the first global rankings emerged. It presents an in-depth analysis that reflects the current state of research on rankings, their influence and impact.