Issues with University ranking system

Issues with University ranking system

Context: This article on Issues associated with university ranking system has been created based on the article “On the relevance of university rankings” published in “The Hindu”.

What are the world’s most popular ranking systems?
• The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), is a UK-based company specialized in the analysis of higher education institutions around the world, ranked institutions on the basis of 10 indicators.
• The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 - It includes 1,799 universities across 104 countries and regions, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.
• The Academic Ranking of World Universities (also known as the ‘Shanghai Ranking’)
• The U.S. News & World Report

How do ranking systems evaluate countries?
• The ranking system orders the higher education institutes in a country by their achievements on various fronts. It includes teaching, research, reputation, industry-focused research, and collaborative efforts.

What are the issues related to major Global ranking system?
• There is an over emphasis on pursuit of high GDP for ranking of universities. University rankings overlook important roles that universities play in overall well-being of society and focus on GDP only.
• The highest ranked universities in various ranking systems are mostly old, large, wealthy, research-intensive, science-focused, English speaking. They are mainly from the Global North.
• Conflict of Interest: Most entities that compile and publish rankings are private enterprises & these entities consulting with universities to help the latter achieve better ranks in their own systems.
• Favoritism: Favor the universities that hosted an important summit of a major university ranking releasing Agency.

What needs to be done?
• New indicators could be added like
o Typical research strength (assesses a university’s research prowess compared to others),
o Excellence in research (measures the presence of outstanding research areas), and
o The Network effect of citations (considers the influence of citations from researchers of varying importance.).
• Compilation & Publication of Ranking needs to be done by an Independent Agency.