I would be very interested to know if other countries have systems
>that are intended to measure or rank the quality of teaching and
>research at their universities. In Canada (where I am from) and the
>U.S., there are several unofficial surveys that rank universities as
>a whole, but none of which I am aware that classify departments.
>
>George Ferzoco
>George Ferzoco // [log in to unmask]
Not quite departments, perhaps, but the USA recently witnessed an official
nationwide attempt, by the National Research Council or some such body, to
rank graduate degree programs in 36 subject areas. Italian was not
included, apparently because there were not enough such programs across the
country to make a ranking statistically significant. Since my institution
did rather well across the board (a fact which the Chancellor has since
become capable of insinuating into conversation on the most implausible of
topics!) it's been rather tedious having to explain to colleagues that no,
actually, we in Italian Studies didn't fail to make the grade, we just
didn't get to play this particular game. I'm not too sure what the
mechanics of the exercise were, but perhaps some else can tell us.
It's also been a lesson in the slipperiness of conclusions drawn from
exercises of this kind. The university's PR machine endlessly repeats that
"35 of Berkeley's 36 graduate programs were rated in the top 10
nationwide". In fact Berkeley has over 70 graduate programs, and what
these people mean - but never say - is "Berkeley's 36 graduate programs *in
the areas that happened to be chosen for the purposes of the exercise*".
I'm already starting to detect signs of a distinction developing between
the 35 programs that can point to their nationally sanctioned Good Conduct
badge (it'll be on their departmental letterhead next!) and the rest of us.
I hope it's not too late to wish a happy 1997 - or a felice anno nuovo - to all!
Steven Botterill
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Italian Studies
3335 Dwinelle Hall #2620
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-2620
(510) 642-6246/642-9884 (FAX)
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