Global University Rankings and their Impact

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web.Global University Rankings and their Impact
Andrejs Rauhvargers, European University Association, April 12, 2013
Over the years I have found the deference people show to institutions like Harvard, MIT and Standford to be quite remarkable. Yes, the people who work there are smart, but they are not uniquely smart, and they are as often more important for their biases (such as, for example, a pro-commercial affiliation) than for their academics or teaching. This report on university rankings points to instances of this phenomenon. More...