Issues associated with university ranking system

Source-This post on Issues associated with university ranking system has been created based on the article “On the relevance of university rankings” published in “The Hindu” on 2 March 2024.

UPSC Syllabus–GS Paper-2– Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education.

News-The article highlights various issues associated with the global university ranking systems. Issues associated with university ranking system

What are the world’s most popular ranking systems?

The Times Higher Education (THE), the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the Academic Ranking of World Universities (also known as the ‘Shanghai Ranking’), and the U.S. News & World Report are the most popular rankings schemes worldwide.

Read more- Rankings, and the realities of higher education

How do ranking systems evaluate countries?

The ranking system orders the higher education institutes in a country by their achievements on various fronts. This includes teaching, research, reputation, industry-focused research, and collaborative efforts.

What are issues associated with these ranking systems?

1)Unidimensional parameter– There is an over emphasis on pursuit of high GDP for ranking of universities. University rankings overlook important roles that universities play in overall well-being of society and focus on GDP only.

2) Dominated by global north– The highest ranked universities in various ranking systems are mostly old, large, wealthy, research-intensive, science-focused, English speaking. They are mainly from the Global North.

3) Conflict of interest
A) As per ‘University Ranking Watch’ initiative, THE’s(The Times Higher Education) regional rankings have favored universities that hosted an important THE summit.

B) Most of these ranking agencies are private and they sometimes consult with universities to help the universities achieve better ranks in their own systems.
For example, in a 2021 paper released by University of California, universities which had contract with QS-related agencies saw an increase of 0.75 standard deviations (~140 positions) in QS World University Rankings.

4) Data Security-Universities and institutes must give ranking agencies free control over their data. This compromises their data security.
For example, to use the THE platform, website, and related services, Universities have to provide data of institutional, industry, and research incomes, and of patents.

Rankings may have incentivized some improvement in the quality of some universities.However,they have also promoted several perverse and harmful behaviors which produce systemic long-term negative effects.

Question for practice

Critically analyze the significance of university ranking systems?