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17 janvier 2017

Debate on the usefulness of international university rankings intensifies

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In a Special Report examining the usefulness and accuracy of global university rankings, Philip G Altbach and Ellen Hazelkorn suggest that rankings are a losing game for most mid-range universities as they are not worth the resources required nor the changes in mission, while Bahram Bekhradnia of the Higher Education Policy Institute criticises rankings for being based on data which is unaudited and of doubtful quality and hopes that governments and potential students understand that they are essentially measures of research activity. Ranking experts counter these criticisms, including Ben Sowter of QS who says criticisms should be evidence-based and take the positive and negative into account, and Phil Baty of the Times Higher Education ranking who says the rankings provide useful analysis and are here to stay.
In our World Blog, Hans de Wit says there is still cause for optimism with regard to the internationalisation of higher education despite the political shocks of 2016 but this is likely to come from different regions than in the past.
In Features, Jens Jungblut says governments can always only reach two of three politically desirable goals in higher education – low public costs, low tuition fees and mass access – and this trilemma may see them cutting corners and sacrificing quality. Nic Mitchell reports on the European University Association’s call for the European Commission to simplify the Erasmus+ mobility programme and increase funding, following a recent survey.
In our Special Report on the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa, or HERANA, meeting held in Franschhoek near Cape Town towards the end of 2016, Karen MacGregor reports on indications that Africa’s flagship universities are showing upward trends in a number of areas, and Robert Tijssen and Erika Kraemer-Mbula argue that African science “can and should take the concept of excellence more literally”. Read more...

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