Abstract

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.

Highlights

  • The notion of World Class Universities, and the use of rankings in general, has been an object of study for decades

  • Critics of rankings and the World Class University (WCU) discourse argue that the systems in place have pernicious and perverse effects, not least on university faculty and students, skewing knowledge in favor of the calculable and cachet, the latter often a result of reputational and economic legacy

  • Garfield was one of the founders of bibliometrics and scientometrics, creating SCI, Current Contents, and Journal Citation Reports, and his work led to the calculation of the impact factor, and, later, information retrieval algorithms

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Summary

Introduction

The notion of World Class Universities, and the use of rankings in general, has been an object of study for decades. Critics of rankings and the WCU discourse argue that the systems in place have pernicious and perverse effects, not least on university faculty and students, skewing knowledge in favor of the calculable and cachet, the latter often a result of reputational and economic legacy.

Results
Conclusion

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