The recent situation that many mainland Chinese universities have withdrawn from international university rankings has attracted attention from the outside world. Some people believe that the withdrawal of Chinese universities from the rankings is a "business strategy", while others say that universities should not pursue rankings, and some people doubt that Chinese universities do not participate in international university rankings. How to rank to achieve "world-class" and so on.
The QS World University Rankings is the leader of this type of international university rankings, and many international students look at the rankings and claim that "no QS Top 200 will not be included".
Its development may shed some light on the English-dominant nature of these university rankings, and how it affects the current planning guidelines of higher education institutions around the world, or contribute to further understanding of the true meaning of international university rankings.
In today's globalized world, for countless students all over the world who are interested in studying abroad, in the face of thousands of institutions of higher learning in various countries, it is no longer enough to know Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, Peking University, Tsinghua University, etc. It is very important to quickly know the world ranking of a university, so as to quickly judge whether it is good or bad.
It is important to know that further education and study abroad are also difficult decisions for many students, and various types of university rankings have come into being so that they can make more informed choices.
Among them, the QS World University Rankings (QS World University Rankings) is one of the most authoritative ranking lists, and it has become an important reference index for prospective students from all over the world.
The institution, which has produced rankings since 2004, uses methodological indicators across four categories: research reputation, learning and teaching environment, research impact and internationalisation.
The rankings place a strong emphasis on academic reputation and various ratios such as teacher-student ratios, employer ratings, etc., but because the QS rankings rely on opinion surveys, they are more subjective.
QS ranking is one of the most authoritative international rankings.
(QS)
With years of development, the ranking list may cover the largest number of universities among many ranking systems, and in recent years, it has specialized in diversified rankings such as departments, regions and countries, and the best cities to study abroad, so it is extremely important for all walks of life. with reference value.
Afia Fahmida Rahman, a Bangladeshi software engineering student who graduated last year, said: "In my opinion, it may be important to be recognized by international organizations. The same is true for a company, a university that ranks high locally but is not well-known in the international community, QS The rankings give them a general impression of the school and how it prepares graduates to become their potential employees."
However, university rankings are not absolute. After all, "good or bad" is inevitably subjective, and each ranking agency has its own set of ranking methods, which are considered based on different criteria and factors, so the relevant rankings should be taken as a reference. One of the indicators in order to narrow the range only.
University internationalization | Refuse to chase "foreign indicators" Then what?
QS's classification rankings are becoming more and more diverse, which is a very useful reference for students.
(QS)
Prejudice, misdirection, English hegemony controversy...
In the face of dazzling university rankings, there have been many skeptics around the world in recent years pointing out the limitations of these rankings, and even reflecting on the distorted practice of universities following the rankings.
At present, there are still many controversies in such rankings. For example, they are criticized for favoring large, well-funded, science-oriented universities; there is also the nature of prejudice against English education. In the 2022 QS ranking index, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT) topped the list, followed by Oxford, Stanford, Cambridge and Harvard, all English-speaking universities.
The preference for universities that teach in English in the rankings may not be unreasonable, since most journals in the bibliometric databases of many universities are in English, and English is widely used in academia, and many of the world's most influential studies are in English. Published in English.
In the past few decades, English-speaking countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have become the destinations for many overseas students to pursue their studies, which reflects the advantages of English education.
The QS ranking reflects its prejudiced nature of English education to some extent. The picture shows that the number one ranking this year is MIT.
(Getty)
In addition, there are also opinions that the ranking list can only reflect the level of research rather than the quality of education, and disguisedly advocates the ethos of universities focusing on research and less on teaching; there are also criticisms of data reliability and "rating as a business".
Prominent labor economist David Blanchflower once criticized: "The QS ranking is utter rubbish and should not be believed. The results are based on a completely flawed methodology that underestimates the quality of research and exaggerates other factors.”
Philip Altbach, professor of higher education at Boston College and member of the editorial board of THE, criticized: "The most problematic aspect of the QS World University Rankings is that half of its analysis relied on reputation indicators from the start, which may explain the significant changes in the rankings over the years. .” He added that QS’s practice of querying employers led to more variability and unreliability, questioning whether the rankings deserved to be taken seriously.
Philip Altbach questioned whether the QS rankings need to be taken seriously.
(Boston College)
Last year, a study published by the Center for Higher Education Research at the University of California, Berkeley, suggested that institutions using the QS consulting service were likely to receive higher rankings, but the institution has denied it.
In recent years, some universities have used the rankings of the QS World Rankings to admit students under the banner of "Top 1% in the world", and have been criticized by many students for being suspected of false propaganda. The reason is that these figures cannot be verified and quantified, and they are indeed misleading.
These all reflect some fundamental problems with university rankings.
The real dilemma of "following the rankings"?
Today, university rankings are highly sought after and have become the norm, and even become a KPI for university management.
There are more and more institutions publishing rankings, including global university rankings, best Asia-Pacific university rankings, and young university rankings.
In addition to QS, the most familiar ones are Times Higher Education World University Rankings, US News and World Report (USNWR), etc.
These university rankings have long gone beyond the question of objective fairness, credibility, and even "should we follow the trend". It is also closely related to the development and survival of higher education institutions around the world.
Education today has become a revenue-generating industry in which annual tuition fees are one of the largest sources of income for educational institutions.
Taking the United States as an example, higher education is a huge industry. In the 2019-2020 academic year, overseas students contributed about US$45 billion in economic income to the United States each year.
Annual tuition is one of the largest sources of income for educational institutions.
(Getty)
Therefore, many universities have regarded students as their "customers", and it is important for graduates to remain competitive in the job market in today's era of "college students are no longer the best". Sex becomes increasingly apparent.
On the other hand, the universities themselves will also consider the relevant rankings to recruit staff, as this will not only help attract students, but also help a lot in securing government budgets.
In order to achieve higher rankings, many universities tend to focus on investing in those areas that have the opportunity to influence rankings, at the expense of other departments.
In the past ten years, the pursuit of rankings is no longer limited to universities in Europe and the United States. Universities in Asia such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Russia have also actively participated. This is a slight change from the rankings in recent years. .
Once the ranking drops, the consequences are serious, not only may it lose the support of local and international enterprises, but also have the opportunity to reduce the ability to attract outstanding teaching staff and students, and lose the opportunity to cooperate with high-quality institutions.
However, the development policy of institutions of higher learning all over the world putting all their energy into the world's top 100 has seriously misled the school-running work of university education.
Although there are many drawbacks in university rankings, it is not easy for institutions of higher learning to get rid of chasing rankings.
In recent years, the number of universities around the world has increased significantly, the phenomenon of "low birthrate" in developed countries, and the rise of employment-oriented corporate education have exacerbated the shortage of students and made it more difficult for universities to operate.
University Internationalization: The National People's Congress's withdrawal from the international rankings brings Taiwan's "academic colonization" to sighs and reflections
The new crown epidemic has affected the admissions of many universities around the world.
(Getty)
What's more, the new crown epidemic that has lasted for more than two years has directly affected the enrollment of universities in various places, further worsening the financial situation of many universities.
British universities faced losses of at least 2.5 billion pounds (HK$24.2 billion) last year due to a drop in enrolments for the new academic year, according to European economic consultancy London Economics (LE).
"The funding shortage faced by universities around the world may mean that some will permanently close or merge with others, especially smaller ones," said Jenny Lee, a professor at the University of Arizona who studies higher education policy and practice. Universities.” This somewhat indicates that some universities may not survive.
The emergence of a variety of international university ratings over the past decade has made scholars and governments around the world aware of the relative performance of universities, and so, while controversial, has generally been accepted as an objective fact of the accepted reference.
The above-mentioned explanations to some extent explain the withdrawal of mainland universities from the international university rankings, which can be regarded as a “shock” move in the global higher education community. However, under the current distorted reality of universities chasing rankings, few universities follow the withdrawal.
That said, following rankings has indeed distorted the very nature of universities.
In the long run, in addition to reluctantly following the rules of the game set by ranking agencies, universities should also reflect on how to truthfully reflect the true value of universities.
Universities should also think deeply about how to achieve their educational mission rather than content themselves with competing for cold ranking data.
Three Universities including Renmin University withdrew from the World University Rankings Scholars: Domestic Universities Are Tired of Rankings Universities Internationalize ︱ Renmin University’s Exit from International Rankings Introduces Taiwan’s “Academic Colonization” Sigh and Reflects on THE International Rankings of THE University 81st place and 27th place