Global University Rankings in European Higher Education Policy and Practice

2021 ◽  
pp. 62-83
Author(s):  
Maruša Hauptman Komotar
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
University Rankings ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
National Policies ◽  
Comparative Higher Education ◽  
Global University ◽  
European Higher Education ◽  
Key Indicators ◽  
The Impact

This chapter explores the impact of global university rankings on the development and implementation of institutional and national policies and practices in the two countries forming the European Higher Education Area. More precisely, it focuses on Slovenia and the Netherlands which are rarely in the focus of comparative higher education research. Initially, it discusses the landscape of eight selected global rankings in terms of key indicators they use and criticisms to which they are subjected. Afterwards, it investigates global (and national) rankings in the framework of institutional and national policies, strategies, and practices of each country case. In the continuation, it places the obtained results into the comparative perspective and concludes by highlighting that university rankings frequently support vertical diversity within and between (Slovenian and Dutch) higher education systems and, as such, disregard the complexity of particular disciplinary, institutional and national contexts.

scholarly journals “Bologna Digital”—Actively Shaping the Digital Transformation in European Higher Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 583-596
Author(s):  
Dominic Orr ◽  
Florian Rampelt ◽  
Alexander Knoth
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Bologna Process ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Strategic Integration ◽  
Strategic Impact ◽  
European Higher Education ◽  
New Vision

Abstract Digital transformation will impact the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and could contribute to developing a new vision for the Bologna Process and for higher education in Europe and beyond. In recent years, research on European and national levels has shown increasing attention being paid to digitalisation and digital transformation by higher education leadership. The 2015 and 2018 Ministerial Communiqués also clearly emphasised the importance of the topic for the EHEA. Yet, a strategic integration of digitalisation into higher education policy and practice remains hard to find. This is for two main reasons: (1) because although digitalisation is often seen as a technical innovation, it must, in fact, be a social innovation for it to have any impact and (2) because higher education as a field of practice, especially in Europe, is a multi-layered system where strategic impact is only possible if all layers are broadly following the same objectives. With reference to policy theory, the authors conjectured that reducing goal conflict and practice ambiguity would help to facilitate a more integrative digital policy and practice. With this aim, the authors launched a White Paper in 2019 to facilitate broad agreement on the potential of digitalisation within the Bologna framework. This contribution provides an interim evaluation of the initiative and its next steps. In this, it provides a reflexive review of how practitioners and researchers in the field might hope to influence policymaking and practice in the area of digitalisation.

scholarly journals Review on the Impact of World Higher Education Rankings: Institutional Competitive Competence and Institutional Competence

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Zoljargal Dembereldorj
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
University Rankings ◽  
Advanced Economy ◽  
Global University ◽  
World Class ◽  
Higher Education Rankings ◽  
The Impact

This paper discusses the relevant literature on higher education rankings and its impact on higher education institutions across the globe. The literature suggests that global university rankings impact higher education institutions both in advanced economy and developing countries to build competence to race and exist. Universities in an advanced economy are building institutional competitive competence to race in the global university rankings under the umbrella term of ‘World Class University,’ whereas universities in developing countries are building institutional competence by pursuing to build research intensive universities. The essay argues that global university rankings are shaping the field of higher education institutions, and the capacity of resources dictates universities the type of competence to build to exist: institutional competitive competence and institutional competence.   

scholarly journals University Rankings: The Web Ranking

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isidro Aguillo
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
University Rankings ◽  
Font Size ◽  
National Policies ◽  
Important Impact ◽  
Global University ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Strategies ◽  
The Web

<p><span lang="ES-PR" style="line-height: 115%; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: ES-PR; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">The publication in 2003 of the Ranking of Universities by Jiao Tong University of Shanghai has revolutionized not only academic studies on Higher Education, but has also had an important impact on the national policies and the individual strategies of the sector. The work gathers the main characteristics of this and other global university rankings, paying special attention to their potential benefits and limitations. The Web Ranking is analyzed in depth, presenting the model on which its compound indicator is based and analyzing its different variables. </span></p>

scholarly journals Welcome to the World Class University: Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Sharon Rider ◽  
Michael A. Peters ◽  
Mats Hyvönen ◽  
Tina Besley
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
University Rankings ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
World University Rankings ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Global University ◽  
World Class ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
World Class Universities

AbstractThe notion of World Class Universities, and the use of rankings in general, has been an object of study for decades. Perhaps the first major critical work was Ellen Hazelkorn’s Rankings and the reshaping of higher education: The battle for world-class excellence (2011). Just as the influence of rankings shows no sign of abating, neither does the impetus to provide practical proposals for how to use them to advantage, or, alternatively, to examine the sources and effects of the practices involved. Recent interventions belonging to the first category are Downing and Ganotice’s World university rankings and the future of higher education (2017), while Stack’s Global university rankings and the mediatization of higher education (2016) and Hazelkorn’s Global rankings and the geopolitics of higher education: Understanding the influence and impact of rankingson higher education, policyand society (2016) are notable examples of the latter. The essays presented in the present volume are intended to contribute to our understanding of the phenomenon, its causes and consequences by filling three functions: (i) to provide an updated analysis of current trends in rankings and an examination of recent data regarding World Class University (WCU) initiatives relevant to the form and content of higher education; (ii) to study these especially with an eye to particular ramifications for work on the shop floor, that is to say, for university teachers and students; (iii) to investigate possible future courses and alternative trajectories.

scholarly journals Charting a course to an emerging field of 'research engagement studies': A conceptual meta-synthesis

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jude Fransman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Development ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
The Past ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Education Science

The past decades in the UK have witnessed renewed interest by policymakers, research funders and research institutions in the engagement of non-academic individuals, groups and organizations with research processes and products. There has been a broad consensus that better engagement leads to better impact, as well as significant learning around understanding engagement and improving practice. However, this sits in tension to a parallel trend in British higher education policy that reduces the field to a narrow definition of quantitatively measured impacts attributed to individual researchers, projects and institutions. In response, this article argues for the mobilization of an emerging field of 'research engagement studies' that brings together an extensive and diverse existing literature around understandings and experiences of engagement, and has the potential to contribute both strategically and conceptually to the broader impact debate. However, to inform this, some stocktaking is needed to trace the different traditions back to their conceptual roots and chart out a common set of themes, approaches and framings across the literature. In response, this article maps the literature by developing a genealogy of understandings of research engagement within five UK-based domains of policy and practice: higher education; science and technology; public policy (health, social care and education); international development; and community development. After identifying patterns and trends within and across these clusters, the article concludes by proposing a framework for comparing understandings of engagement, and uses this framework to highlight trends, gaps and ways forward for the emerging field.

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