How do university rankings maintain their influence?
Even though university rankings are viewed with scepticism by academics, they continue to be among the most popular methods to determine the quality of the teaching and research universities provide. As rankers have the opportunity to shape the way the public perceives the system of higher education, they constantly work on their expertise. One of the ways of doing so is organising conferences and summits for the important figures in the field of higher education. Source: University World News 05/09/2017
Who is the real ranking-leader?
In the newest version of three different rankings there are three different universities at the top of the list: in the ranking of THE the first one is Oxford University, in the QS ranking it is MIT and in the Shanghai ranking it is Harvard University. The differences of the lists are partly caused by the different methods that rankers use while making them. The Times Higher Education suggests: While it might be hard to decide which ranking one should consider when choosing a university to go to, it comes with the advantage of being able to consider different characteristics of the universities of the lists.
ARWU 2017: now published!
The ranking of Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) has been released for 2017. The top three universities featured on the list are Harvard, Stanford and Cambridge. ARWU has been presenting its list of the Top 500 universities since 2003. This year it also presents an additional list of 300 universities ranked between 501-800. There are 135 universities from the United States on the list of Top 500 while China has 57 and the United Kingdom has 38.
The LEIDEN Ranking-Reading-Rules for Deliberation
'10 Principles to Guide the Responsible Use of University Rankings' As a conclusion of the Hungarian Ranking Training, the closing event of a project organized this June with the promotion of TEMPUS Public Foundation by the Social Communication Research Group and initiated by its leader, György Fábri, assosiate professor at the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology of ELTE, it is of utmost importance to point out the main guiding rules of university ranking usage. LEIDEN ranking elaborated an overall guide in 10 points. One crucial point the participants of the Hungarian Ranking Training have also concluded is the 10th of the LEIDEN ranking-reading-rule: ’University rankings should be handled cautiously, but they should not be dismissed as being completely useless’. While rankings serve marketing functions, the essence of ranking positions may…
Shanghai Ranking Update
ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects — By Brendan O'Malley, 01 July 2017 http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20170701054605241
For the real ranking-strategy of the Hungarian universities
THE PROJECT FINISHED WITH A RANKING-TRAINING Hungarian universities are motivated to have an insight into the methodology of global and regional rankings, and the potential of their excavation. This is the aim of the project, promoted by TEMPUS Public Foundation Campus Mundi project (EFOP-3.4.2-VEKOP-15-2015-00001), and organized by ELTE PPK Social Communication Research Group. The research group, the leading scientific research center of Hungarian ranking research, (chair: associate professor György Fábri), organized an international workshop, as well as a training for Hungarian higher education experts. During these events the indicators and the performance parameters behind them, the relations between the ranking positions of global and regional rankings were revealed, and the rankings were identified as means of marketing-communication. The one-day interactive training closing the project resulted in a professional knowledge-base and a knowledge-network accessible by…
Upcoming Ranking-Expert Event!
Ranking Training to be held on 20 June, supported by TEMPUS Participants: – Hungarian ranking experts Topic: the way we use university rankings and the way we should use them Location: Kéthly Anna tér, Tempus Public Foundation Ranking-Expert Event! Our team contribute to the ranking-workshop that will be held in Budapest on 31 March 2017, supported by TEMPUS. Participants: – international and Hungarian ranking experts – representatives of Hungarian universities Topic: – relation between university-positions in the global and national rankings. – reactions of decision makers and institutions on results of global and national rankings.
Universities in Crossroads of National and Global Rankings
A brief overview of the International Ranking-Workshop at the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE PPK) on the 31st March, 2017 The event was promoted by TEMPUS Public Foundation At the event titled „Universities in Crossroads of National and Global Rankings” university leaders from Romania, Serbia and Hungary, representatives of the International Ranking Expert Group, as well as Hungarian and foreign ranking-experts discussed the correspondence between national and global rankings. Around fifty participants disputed lectures on the incompetence of global rankings to measure the performance of universities. They also discussed the fact, that while the position of the very same universities on the national ranking scales and the international ones are hardly comparable due to indicator differences, the best universities nevertheless are at the top of any ranking…
The work of global university rankers
— By Miguel Antonio Lim, May 11, 2017 A much criticized, yet influential area of higher education 'back office business'. The efforts are to create a 'constantly negotiated balance between the relevance, reliability, and robustness of rankers’ data and their relationships with their key readers and audiences. Building this expertise entails collecting robust data, presenting it in ways that are relevant to audiences, and engaging with critics.' May, 2017 http://rankingwatch.blogspot.hu/2017/05/ranking-article-building-of-weak.html
Dr. habil György Fábri (1964) is an habilitated associate professor (Institute of research on Adult Education and Knowledge Management, Faculty of Education and Psychology of Eötvös Loránd University), head of the Social Communication Research Group. Areas of research: university philosophy, sociology of higher education and science, science communication, social communication, church sociology. His monograph was published on the transformation of Hungarian higher education during the change of regime (1992 Wien) and on university rankings (2017 Budapest). He has edited several scientific journals, and his university courses and publications cover communication theory, university philosophy, science communication, social representation, media and social philosophy, ethics, and church sociology.
Mr. Degli Esposti is Full Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Deputy Rector Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Dean of Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna, Head of Service for the health and safety of people in the workplace, President of the Alma Mater Foundation and Delegate for Rankings.
Ben joined QS in 2002 and has led institutional performance insights function of QS since its emergence following the early success of the QS World University Rankings®. His team is, today, responsible for the operational management of all major QS research projects including the QS World University Rankings® and variants by region and subject. Comprising over 60 people in five international locations, the team also operate a widely adopted university rating system – QS Stars – and a range of commissioned business intelligence and strategic advisory services.Ben has travelled to over 50 countries and spoken on his research in almost 40. He has personally visited over 50 of the world’s top 100 universities amongst countless others and is a regular and sought after speaker on the conference circuit.Ben is married and has two sons; if he had any free time it would be spent reading, watching movies and skiing.
Anna Urbanovics is a PhD student at Doctoral School of Public Administration Sciences of the University of Public Service, and studies Sociology Master of Arts at the Corvinus University of Budapest. She is graduated in International Security Studies Master of Arts at the University of Public Service. She does research in Scientometrics and International Relations.
Dr. Mircea Dumitru is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bucharest (since 2004). Rector of the University of Bucharest (since 2011). President of the European Society of Analytic Philosophy (2011 – 2014). Corresponding Fellow of the Romanian Academy (since 2014). Minister of Education and Scientific Research (July 2016 – January 2017). Visiting Professor at Beijing Normal University (2017 – 2022). President of the International Institute of Philosophy (2017 – 2020). President of Balkan Universities Association (2019 – 2020). He holds a PhD in Philosophy at Tulane University, New Orleans, USA (1998) with a topic in modal logic and philosophy of mathematics, and another PhD in Philosophy at the University of Bucharest (1998) with a topic in philosophy of language. Invited Professor at Tulsa University (USA), CUNY (USA), NYU (USA), Lyon 3, ENS Lyon, University of Helsinki, CUPL (Beijing, China), Pekin University (Beijing, China). Main area of research: philosophical logic, metaphysics, and philosophy of language. Main publications: Modality and Incompleteness (UMI, Ann Arbor, 1998); Modalitate si incompletitudine, (Paideia Publishing House, 2001, in Romanian; the book received the Mircea Florian Prize of the Romanian Academy); Logic and Philosophical Explorations (Humanitas, Bucharest, 2004, in Romanian); Words, Theories, and Things. Quine in Focus (ed.) (Pelican, 2009); Truth (ed.) (Bucharest University Publishing House, 2013); article on the Philosophy of Kit Fine, in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, the Third Edition, Robert Audi (ed.) (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Metaphysics, Meaning, and Modality. Themes from Kit Fine (ed.) (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
Since 1 February 2019 Minister Palkovics as Government Commissioner has been responsible for the coordination of the tasks prescribed in Act XXIV of 2016 on the promulgation of the Agreement between the Government of Hungary and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the development, implementation and financing of the Hungarian section of the Budapest-Belgrade Railway Reconstruction Project.
He is the past President of the Health and Health Care Economics Section of the Hungarian Economics Association.
Based in Berlin, Zuzanna Gorenstein is Head of Project of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) service project “International University Rankings” since 2019. Her work at HRK encompasses the conceptual development and implementation of targeted advisory, networking, and communication measures for German universities’ ranking officers. Before joining the HRK, Zuzanna Gorenstein herself served as ranking officer of Freie Universität Berlin.
His books on mathematical modeling of chemical, biological, and other complex systems have been published by Princeton University Press, MIT Press, Springer Publishing house. His new book RANKING: The Unwritten Rules of the Social Game We All Play was published recently by the Oxford University Press, and is already under translation for several languages.
