Education Policy Commons^™

World-Class Universities Or World-Class Systems? Rankings And Higher Education Policy Choices, Ellen Hazelkorn

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Is it always a good thing when a university rises up the rankings and breaks into the top 100? Do rankings raise standards by encouraging competition or do they undermine the broader mission to provide education? Should rankings be used to help decide educational policy and the allocation of scare financial resources? Should policy aim to develop world-class universities or to make the system world-class?

University rankings have dominated headlines and the attention of political and university leaders wherever or whenever they are published or mentioned. Politicians regularly refer to them as a measure of their nation’s economic strengths and …

Handle With Care, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

This article discusses the impact of rankings on higher education.

The Imperative For Achieving Diversity, Ellen Hazelkorn

Other resources

Diversity is seen as a basic norm of higher education policy because it best meets educational and labour market. This presentation examines the concept of diversity as it applies to institutional mission and differentiation, and to research. It argues that in response to rankings and the global financial crisis, policymakers are tending to make a simple correlation between rankings, elite higher education and global competitiveness. There is increasing emphasis on selective excellence and focusing on the 'economic value of research outputs'. However, pursuit of ‘world class’ is skewing policy and institutional priorities.

International Comparisons: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Ellen Hazelkorn

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The presentation addresses the question of why international comparisons, e.g. rankings and benchmarking, have become so important for higher education. It looks at the thinking behind making comparisons, what kind of evidence we need to make valid comparisons and explore the basic questions of indicators, data, whether the process is fit-for-purpose, and the pitfalls in using comparative data.

What Have We Learned About And From Rankings?, Ellen Hazelkorn

Other resources

The presentation discusses the pros and cons of higher education rankings, and examines the impact and influence that rankings are having.

Do University Rankings Measure What Counts, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

The article discusses the impact of rankings on higher education.

The Impact Of Global Rankings On Higher Education Research And The Production Of Knowledge, Ellen Hazelkorn

Reports

This paper examines the extent to which rankings shape our understanding of what constitutes research and the contribution that individual higher education institutions (HEIs) can and should make.