Ranking the World’s Universities: What it means for your institution’s future

Martin InceTaipei, TaiwanMarch 24, 2011

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…. about me• Founder of these rankings at THES• Now with QS rankings system• Science and education journalist• Rough Guide to the Earth

• Media adviser and trainer• Find me at www.martinince.com

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Not such a new idea…• Norrington Table 1963• US News and World Report 1983• Times GUG, Macleans, many others• All these are data-rich• 18 main columns in USN

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Why international ranking?

• Universities the original global industry• Now 3.3 of 150 million students study abroad (OECD 2010)• Four of the five flows: people, money, ideas, services, goods

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Why rank universities globally?

• Growing student numbers• Globalisation of knowledge• Competition• Marketisation• Rankings drive this process as well as measuring it

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Global Universities• Recruit staff and students globally• Publish globally important research• Attract global employers• Are thought leaders in their own countries and internationally

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How many world universities?From Anthony van Raan, CWST, Leiden University, Netherlands

Ranking universities worldwide by CPP/FCSm

0.10

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1 10 100 1000r

CPP/FCSm

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So how do we do rank universities?

• What happens in a university?• With luck, some of these –• Teaching• Research• Mind expansion• Creation of useful people

• We measure them half by expert review and half by quantitative analysis

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We believe….• Academics know about universities• So do employers• So we ask them

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Academic Respondents by Faculty Academic Respondents by Faculty AreaArea

Faculty AreaFaculty Area CountCount% % RespondentsRespondents

Arts & HumanitiesArts & Humanities 3,0623,062 20.3%20.3%Engineering & ITEngineering & IT 3,5183,518 23.4%23.4%Life Sciences & BiomedicineLife Sciences & Biomedicine 1,9621,962 13.0%13.0%Natural SciencesNatural Sciences 3,5763,576 23.8%23.8%Social SciencesSocial Sciences 4,8484,848 32.2%32.2%* Respondents can select more than one faculty area* Respondents can select more than one faculty area

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Employers: 5007 in 2010

Biggest ever opinion poll• 20,057 people• 185,669 valid votes• 40 per cent for the academic review• 10 per cent for the employers• This is the qualitative side of the survey

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Teaching and learning• Staff/student• Admit this is less satisfactory• OK in a big general institution• Other attempts to be discussed • 20 per cent for this

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Research• Citations/ 5 years• Scopus (formerly Thomson)• Per person, not per paper• Another 20 per cent• Well-known biases• Science• English• Getting better over time (Unesco)

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International commitment• Is this place serious about being global?• Is it somewhere people will cross oceans to study or work at• 5 per cent staff, 5 per cent students• Netherlands effect

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Things that don’t work• Course costs• Library spending• Employment• Teaching quality• Completion and employment• Wealth

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Consistency• Eight years in 2011• Add employer data• Switch from Thomson Reuters to Elsevier• Z-score not anithmetical• Data now very complete• Institutions value this• We will continue to do it

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Faculty-level• Arts and humanities• Science• Biomedicine• Technology• Social Sciences• Top 100• Also citations/paper

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And the winner is…• Usually Harvard• But this time Cambridge• Top non-English ETH at 18• 53 US in top 200, 30 UK• BUT there are 33 nations in the top 200• Netherlands, Australia• China on the up, 6/200 plus five in Hong Kong SAR• Taiwan 2/200, NTU 94, National Tsing Hua 196• Nine in top 500

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Other approaches• Shanghai: since 2003• Nobel Prizes• Fields Medals• Science and Nature• Highly cited• Citations• Per capita• Overlap 142/200 with QS in 2010

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HEEACT

• Since 2007• Number of papers• Impact of papers

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Some others

• Asian University Rankings• Hong Kong, HKUST, NUS• Third edition in May 2011

• Webometrics – online visibility• Ecole des Mines• Scimago• Various mashups

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THE• Attempt to measure teaching• Quantitative + survey

• Industrial income 2.5 per cent• International staff and students• Research Impact• Research reputation• Opinion 34.5• Research 51.5 + 2.5

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Coming next• AHELO• CHERPA• UNU/ Buffalo/ Scopus• Developing world

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QS subject rankings• 30+ initial subjects• Academic review• Citations• Employer review

• Weighting will vary• Will develop in future years• Start with engineering and technology, World Class April 2

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QS Stars• Reflect institutional diversity

Points for research quality, graduate employment, teaching quality and infrastructure

But also for international mission, third mission, knowledge transfer and specialist subject rank

Not a ranking

More at http://tinyurl.com/6kuaxyy Mart

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Students and their advisors

• 500,000 unique visitors to topuniversities.com in first week• Over five million people have looked at them• Polling confirms that students use rankings• But only part of the picture

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University managers• Are we there?• Who else is there?• Up or down?• What sort of university is this• Being there, being where?• Target setting

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Governments• Germany: Excellence Initiative €2.9 billion ($4 billion)• France• Malaysia• Japan• Brunei• Netherlands

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Universities• Many want to be in top 100• Red Queen syndrome• Especially in Asia• Drive towards English language• Drive towards concentration of national systems• Middle East innovation, KAUST et al

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The future

• It won’t go away• More systems • More examination – IREG initiative

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Things rankings don’t capture

• Teaching and the student experience• Creation of human capital

Valuable citizensLife tracking?Again risks western chauvinism

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Institutional variation

• About 4000 universities• Can’t all be Yale• Modern economy needs full range of people• So other types of institution will remain valid• Time and money

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.... Innovation• International campuses• Collaboration and joint degrees• For-profit universities• Universities as validators• Distance learning

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Texture• Subjects• QS and Shanghai faculty level• QS to go deeper• CHE European subject data• AHELO and CHERPA

• Engineering and economics

Bound to be more detailMore valuable for governments, students, business and managers

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The summary• Rankings are valuable• They show Heisenberg’s principle in action• They will grow in importance• They will grow in variety and quality• You cannot let them tell you what your university should be:

that is what you are paid for• Governments should also appreciate this

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Thank you

•QS colleagues in London and Asia•Elsevier for their contribution to the rankings•You for your attention and for this invitation

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