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The Global Rankings Industry & African Higher Education��Do we really want to play this game?

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Sioux McKenna - s.mckenna@ru.ac.za

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  • Rankings are unscientific
  • Rankings are neocolonial
  • The business model of the rankings industry is dodgy (but legal)
  • Rankings encourage gaming

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Unscientific

  • Proxy measures some distance from social phenomenon they purport to represent
  • Composite averaging of unrelated measures
  • Arbitrary weighting
  • Most are untransparent

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  • Gadd, E. (2020). University rankings need a rethink. Nature, 587(7835), 523–523. Harris, A. (2022, December 31). Why Yale Law School Left the U.S. News World Report Rankings. The Atlantic.
  • Hazelkorn, E. (2011). Rankings and the Reshaping of Higher Education: The Battle for World-Class Excellence. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Independent Expert Group (IEG). (2023). Statement on Global University Rankings. United Nations University - International Institute for Global Health.
  • Marginson, S., & van der Wende, M. (2006). Globalisation and higher education.
  • Redden, E. (2013). Methodology of QS rankings comes under scrutiny.

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Peer review/�reputation surveys

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Unscientific

  • Proxy measures some distance from social phenomenon they purport to represent
  • Composite averaging of unrelated measures
  • Arbitrary weighting
  • Most are untransparent

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Science skepticism and anti-intellectualism

If the value of higher education is being questioned,

should universities actively participate in an unscientific process?

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Neocolonial

  • Homogenous
  • Profit driven research over community engagement
  • A-historical
  • English language, Global North
  • Preying on Global South as ‘emerging market’
  • Marginson, S., & van der Wende, M. (2006). Globalisation and higher education.
  • Nassiri-Ansari, T., & McCoy, D. (2023). World-class Universities? Interrogating the Biases and Coloniality of Global University Rankings.
  • Usher, A., & Savino, M. (2006). A World of Difference: A global survey of university league tables.
  • Yudkevich, M., Altbach, P. G., & Rumbley, L. E. (2015). Global university rankings: The “Olympic Games” of higher education?

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‘Never timers’ and ‘defectors’

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The business model of the rankings industry is dodgy (but legal)

  • Follow the money…
  • Holmes, R. (2023). Watching the Rankings: Selected Writings on International University Rankings and Related Topics. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
  • Marope, P. T. M., Wells, P. J., & Hazelkorn, E. (2013). Rankings and accountability in higher education: Uses and misuses. UNESCO Publishing.
  • Marginson, S., & van der Wende, M. (2006). Globalisation and higher education.
  • Tezuka, M. (2019, March 1). Inflexion purchases university data provider Times Higher Education.

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Follow the money…

Events

Advertising

Consultancies

Gold-star service (eg QS rankings)

But the real money is …

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Rankings encourage gaming

Nordling, L. (2021, October 28). South Africa considers affiliations crackdown for subsidy scheme. Research Professional News.

SIRIS Academic. (n.d.). The affiliation game between Spanish and Saudi Arabian higher education & research institutions.

Usher, A. (2022, February 2). Two Rankings Stories You May Have Missed.

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If you can’t rewrite history and current realities, here’s what you can do instead:

  • Ghost affiliations
  • Gladhanding
  • Pay the industry in consultancies
  • Pay the industry in data
  • Push quantity, dismiss quality

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Goodhart’s Law

  • Are the rankings reflecting quality, measuring progress, representing history, or reinforcing global inequality?

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  • A bit of all – but the sector rarely interrogates these different positions.

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References

Andrason, A., & Van Den Brink, J. (2023). Publishing (mal)practices and their (re)colonising effects: Double affiliations in academic publishing. Journal of Education, 91, 70–93. https://doi.org/10.17159/2520-9868/i91a05

Ansede, M. (2023, April 18). Saudi Arabia pays Spanish scientists to pump up global university rankings. EL PAÍS English. https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-04-18/saudi-arabia-pays-spanish-scientists-to-pump-up-global-university-rankings.html

Calderon, A. (2020, June 12). New rankings results show how some are gaming the system. University World News. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200612104427336

Corricello, M., & Myles, K. (2021, December 7). Gaming the rankings: Race to the top. The Epic. https://lhsepic.com/11474/in-depth/11474/

Fonn, S. (2024, February 12). University rankings are unscientific and bad for education: Experts point out the flaws. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/university-rankings-are-unscientific-and-bad-for-education-experts-point-out-the-flaws-223033

Gadd, E. (2020). University rankings need a rethink. Nature, 587(7835), 523–523. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03312-2

Harris, A. (2022, December 31). Why Yale Law School Left the U.S. News World Report Rankings. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/12/us-news-world-report-college-rankings-yale-law/672533/

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References (cont.)

Hazelkorn, E. (2011). Rankings and the Reshaping of Higher Education: The Battle for World-Class Excellence. Palgrave Macmillan.

Heffernan, T. (2022). Sexism, racism, prejudice, and bias: A literature review and synthesis of research surrounding student evaluations of courses and teaching. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 47(1), 144–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2021.1888075

Holmes, R. (2023). Watching the Rankings: Selected Writings on International University Rankings and Related Topics. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Independent Expert Group (IEG). (2023). Statement on Global University Rankings. United Nations University - International Institute for Global Health. https://doi.org/10.37941/PB/2023/2

Kutner, M. (2014, August 26). How Northeastern University Gamed the College Rankings. Boston Magazine. https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2014/08/26/how-northeastern-gamed-the-college-rankings/

Marginson, S., & van der Wende, M. (2006). Globalisation and higher education.

Marope, P. T. M., Wells, P. J., & Hazelkorn, E. (2013). Rankings and accountability in higher education: Uses and misuses. UNESCO Publishing.

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References (cont.)

McKenna, S. (2024) The problem with rankings. Council on Higher Education Briefly Speaking

Nassiri-Ansari, T., & McCoy, D. (2023). World-class Universities? Interrogating the Biases and Coloniality of Global University Rankings. https://collections.unu.edu/view/UNU:9082

Nordling, L. (2021, October 28). South Africa considers affiliations crackdown for subsidy scheme. Research Professional News. https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-africa-south-2021-10-south-africa-ponders-affiliation-crackdown-for-publication-subsidy/

Redden, E. (2013). Methodology of QS rankings comes under scrutiny. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/29/methodology-qs-rankings-comes-under-scrutiny

SIRIS Academic. (n.d.). The affiliation game between Spanish and Saudi Arabian higher education & research institutions.

SSA University Rankings. (2023, June 16). Times Higher Education (THE). https://www.timeshighereducation.com/sub-saharan-africa-university-rankings

Tezuka, M. (2019, March 1). Inflexion purchases university data provider Times Higher Education. https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/1p07txO4-BeQqJy2i7yBMg2

Usher, A. (2022, February 2). Two Rankings Stories You May Have Missed. HESA. https://higheredstrategy.com/two-rankings-stories-you-may-have-missed/

Usher, A., & Savino, M. (2006). A World of Difference: A global survey of university league tables.

Yudkevich, M., Altbach, P. G., & Rumbley, L. E. (2015). Global university rankings: The “Olympic Games” of higher education? PROSPECTS, 45(4), 411–419.