University rankings might claim to provide an index through which students, faculty, and the general public might ascertain a number of things: the quality of education provided by an institution, the potential for networking at an institution, the breadth and depth of research being performed at an institution, and more. The institutional quest towards topping the university rankings can, however, derail efforts towards the improvement of society and higher education at large.
How do we decide what is a world-class university? Who decides? How do they decide? In this free webinar, the role of […]
Higher education is a globally competitive market and institutions with a high rank can claim exceptionalism that brings in students and funding, acknowledges our Michelle Stack. But are rankings genuinely useful for students or for research?
There are at least 12 university rankings that claim to be global, and in this video Michelle Stack focuses on the big three — the Times Higher Education, QS, and the Academic Ranking of World Universities. She asks what does being a “top-ranked” university mean to students? And who decides this ranking anyway?
Is it possible, asks our Michelle Stack, to have an excellent university that is inequitable?
The Russell Group argues that research funding should be concentrated in the most elite institutions, Two sociologists who have studied how Asian universities have fared in global rankings argue just the opposite.
We need more research that analyzes the relationship between university rankings, citation indexes, and academic publishers, argues Michelle L. Stack.
When universities make note of how they ‘mobilize knowledge,’ they tend to focus on a select group of activities for an equally select audience. That’s a disservice.
In recent years there has been an increased focus on how research papers and supplemental data can be preserved openly. Andy Tattersall, Liz Such, Joe Langley and Fiona Marshall argue equal attention should also be paid to curating communication outputs aimed at engaging non-academic audiences. Michael Burawoy, whose embrace of public sociology and the public at work lead him to describe his influential academic niche as “industrial […] To address research credibility issues, we must reform the role of metrics, rankings, and incentives in universities. Are you a researcher with an idea that could help solve one of today’s most pressing problems? A conference in Dubai this […] In recent years there has been an increased focus on how research papers and supplemental data can be preserved openly. Andy Tattersall, Liz Such, Joe Langley and Fiona Marshall argue equal attention should also be paid to curating communication outputs aimed at engaging non-academic audiences. A new people has emerged in the digital age, that of ‘internet famous’ celebrities. And that new people has a class of […]
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