 |
 |
Hi all and thanks for the discussion. Fiona, you're right, it's more an English centric than UK centric system - to start with, all publications in languages other than English are not considered! Holly and HIllary, who benefits? Of course the makers of the rankings, and maybe some students - those who can claim in their CVs they've been in a top university. In general, I'd say it's the "centre" grabbing from the "periphery" - good old uneven development (of knowledge). Francis, the connection between rankings and behaviours is interesting - in fact, I'm more concerned with the way the "periphery" accepts to be as such than by the fact the "centre" claims itself to be the centre... Bests! S. 2016-03-10 15:57 GMT-06:00 Holly Randell-Moon < [log in to unmask]>: > Hi All, > > At my university, we are told quite frequently by the Vice-Chancellor that > these rankings matter to students and which universities they choose to go > to. Not sure if this is true or not, but they have a powerful ideological > effect on the internal organisation and prioritisation of teaching and > research. > > Cheers, > Holly. > > > On 11/03/2016, at 9:50 AM, Francis Collins <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > > Not a UK-based perspective – but hopefully the following adds to debates > nonetheless… > Rankings are obviously one of the most pervasive dimensions of higher > education today. If its not THE or QS or another international ranking > exercise its the domestic rankings that intersect and diverge from them, > the internal ranking of departments and schools in terms of student income, > research revenue or international reputation. Rankings are everywhere and a > lot of the time ‘we’ have a conflicted kind of relationship with them – we > recognise what they do to us and our institutions but we also accept or > sometimes even use them to our own ends, or what we think is our own ends. > > There is a lot of literature, of varying perspectives and insight, on > rankings in the field of higher education. One of the issues that emerges > there is the way in which ranking really alters existing forms of > reputation and entices institutions and individuals to be more performance > oriented but also oriented towards those things that are being measured, so > we not only recognise the power of rankings but also work towards achieving > higher performance even as we know the problems associated with this. > Higher education and academic work has long been tied up with performance > and distinction of course but the governing by numbers that rankings induce > is particularly pernicious. > > WHO are the beneficiaries of such rankings? Well in the first instance it > is those who do the ranking – QS, THE in the international ranking systems > but also of course a whole range of other actors and institutions. An > interesting example that diverges a bit from classic rankings > is I-graduate, which surveys international students and provides internal > but nonetheless significant and influential metrics to universities that > allow them to supposedly better tailor their offerings and services to fee > paying international students. The contracts for this type of work are huge > and the impact of the results are substantial as anyone who has sat on a > university international committee will know. > > With a a few colleagues in Singapore, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia and > New Zealand we’ve been doing some work around rankings and in particular > the way in which these metrics generate rank-seeking behaviour in > universities. We speak to institutional leaders in East Asia for example > who provide sophisticated critiques of the ways that rankings are flawed > and biased towards Anglophone institutions but then talk about the ways in > which they have reshaped institutional practices to achieve higher > rankings, effectively normalising the flaws and biases in these systems. > Domestic reputations get turned upside down by this, corporatisation or > corporate-style university behaviour tends to lead to better results, and > all sorts of incentives are entered into the day to day life of the > university that alter what is expected of academics, students and other > people in the university. Of course, this is not a one way story and we’ve > come across instances where domestic student groups in particular have > articulated collective positions against the emphasis on ranking – some > staging protests in Korea for example on the timing of domestic ranking > releases. The students’ claims are that these rankings measure the wrong > things, undermine diversity in universities and are increasing the level of > tuition fees because of the costs involved in participation. > > Some of this is covered in this recent publication: > http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-015-9941-3; or behind the > paywall here: > https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282753947_Ranking_and_the_Multiplication_of_Reputation_reflections_from_the_frontier_of_globalizing_higher_education > > > It would be great to here more of how rankings shape our behaviour as well > as that of our institutions – both in the UK but also around the world. > > Regards > Francis > > -- > Francis L. Collins > Senior Lecturer, Geography > Rutherford Discovery Fellow > University of Auckland > > *Nation and Migration: population mobilities, desires and state practices > in 21st century New Zealand* > https://www.facebook.com/NationandMigration > > https://twitter.com/Moving_Futures > > Publications: > http://auckland.academia.edu/FrancisCollins > https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Francis_Collins > > From: "[log in to unmask]" < > [log in to unmask]> > Reply-To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Friday, 11 March 2016 6:13 am > To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: THE, "international rankings" and the hyper-parochial > academia > > I've also wondered, 'WHO is served by such rankings'. Surely not academic > staff - I can't imagine a lecturer or reader saying to themsleves, 'OK I > find I'm working at institutution rank #234 but I really want to go and > work at institution #5 (which happens to be 250 miles from where I live and > would involve massive upheaval in my life, family etc) (and assuming > institution #5 happens to have a vacancy that suits me just now) (and I > will get that vacancy)'. Maybe these rankings are useful to students who > have more geographical flexibiloity in where they apply. Maybe to HEFCE > here in the UK or its equivalents in other countries, although surely they > know the rankings anyway. Maybe to competitive VCs. ..... > > Anyway surely an overall ranking masks massive differences in departments. > Its conceivable that institution #234 has a brilliant law department, > perhaps better than the law department at #5 say, because #234 specialises > in the humanities but #5 excels in the physical sciences, > > Just asking, who mainly uses / benefits from these rankings? > > Dr Hillary J. Shaw > Director and Senior Research Consultant > Shaw Food Solutions > Newport > Shropshire > TF10 8QE > *www.fooddeserts.org <http://www.fooddeserts.org>* > > -----Original Message----- > From: simone tulumello <[log in to unmask]> > To: CRIT-GEOG-FORUM <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Thu, 10 Mar 2016 16:17 > Subject: THE, "international rankings" and the hyper-parochial academia > > Hi critters, > I've been in this list for some time, and there's an issue that has not > got a lot of attention - and I guess why. While we hve been debating a lot > of privatization, corporatization (and so forth) of academia and, > especially, the publishing system, I don't remember a lot of talks about > the "rankings". > THE has just released the European 2016 best universities ranking. > Guess what, 4 out of 5 best universities are in the UK, and 6 out of 10 > best. > > Shall we talk about the inconsitencies of such "rankings"? To make an > example, my university (University of Lisbon) is not listed, while there's > one of its schools (Instituto Superior Tecnico)! > Roars, an Italian based group of researchers, has been making a huge work > in showing how unscientific are this and other rankings (here, for example > <http://www.roars.it/online/times-higher-education-world-university-rankings-science-or-quackery/> > ). > > To me, it is not surprising that UK-based organizations make rankings that > would favor the UK. I am astonished by the fact that "we", the > international academic community, accept such rankings as "international", > just because... they are in English! > > Well, I'd love to hear some comments from UK-based academics... > :) > > Best wishes, and... congrats to people in the top ten! > Simone > > > -- > Simone Tulumello > *Post-doc research fellow, **ULisboa, **Instituto de Ciências Sociais* > *Fulbright visiting scholar, University of Memphis, Department City and > Regional Planning* > > *latest publications*: > Tulumello S. (2015), Fear and Urban Planning in Ordinary Cities: From > Theory to Practice, *Planning Practice & Research*, 30(5), 477-496. Doi: > 10.1080/02697459.2015.1025677 > <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02697459.2015.1025677> > Seixas J., Tulumello S., Corvelo S., Drago A. (2015). Dinâmicas > sociogeográficas e políticas na Área Metropolitana de LIsboa em tempos de > crise e austeridade. *Cadernos Metrópole*, 17(34), 371-399. Doi > 10.1590/2236-9996.2015-3404 > <http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2236-9996.2015-3404> > > webpage <http://www.ics.ulisboa.pt/pessoas/simone.tulumello> / blog > <http://simonetulumello.wordpress.com/> / academia.edu > <http://unipa.academia.edu/SimoneTulumello> / flickr > <http://www.flickr.com/photos/simotulu/> / twitter > <http://twitter.com/SimTulum> > > > Dr. Holly Randell-Moon > Department of Media, Film and Communication > 6th Floor Richardson Building > Central Campus > University of Otago > Dunedin 9016 > New Zealand > > Area Chair, Religion > Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand, PopCAANZ > <http://popcaanz.com> > > Religion after Secularization in Australia > <http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/Religion-after-Secularization-in-Australia/?sf1=barcode&st1=9781137536891> > > Space, Race, Bodies <http://www.spaceracebodies.com> > > ------ > "Replace us with the things that do the job better. Replace us with the > things that do the job better" - Hot Chip > > -- Simone Tulumello *Post-doc research fellow, **ULisboa, **Instituto de Ciências Sociais* *Fulbright visiting scholar, University of Memphis, Department City and Regional Planning* *latest publications*: Tulumello S. (2015), Fear and Urban Planning in Ordinary Cities: From Theory to Practice, *Planning Practice & Research*, 30(5), 477-496. Doi: 10.1080/02697459.2015.1025677 <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02697459.2015.1025677> Seixas J., Tulumello S., Corvelo S., Drago A. (2015). Dinâmicas sociogeográficas e políticas na Área Metropolitana de LIsboa em tempos de crise e austeridade. *Cadernos Metrópole*, 17(34), 371-399. Doi 10.1590/2236-9996.2015-3404 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2236-9996.2015-3404> webpage <http://www.ics.ulisboa.pt/pessoas/simone.tulumello> / blog <http://simonetulumello.wordpress.com/> / academia.edu <http://unipa.academia.edu/SimoneTulumello> / flickr <http://www.flickr.com/photos/simotulu/> / twitter <http://twitter.com/SimTulum>