The university ranking is a tool for universities to promote themselves. They can be helpful to attract students, faculty members and collaborators. Rankings can also help governments and donors choose which universities to fund, or decide on partnerships with certain universities. However, it is important to weigh rankings alongside personal experiences and recommendations from peers when choosing a university.
There are more than 20 rankings published by different organisations with a global focus, and many more that focus on a specific region or discipline. Each ranking has its unique niche, methodology, data sources and indicators.
Some rankings, such as the QS and THE, place a strong emphasis on an institution’s reputation among academics and employers, while others, such as the Shanghai ranking ARWU, put more weight on world-renowned research. The differences between these rankings reflect the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
Another issue with ranking systems is that they don’t necessarily take into account the unique missions and goals of universities. For example, a ranking may place more weight on publishing via independent research councils in North America than the same publication system in Germany, France or Italy. This skews the results and can lead to distortions in the rankings.
While there are positives to university ranking, it is essential that institutions recognise their limitations and work to improve internal assessment mechanisms that can better capture student learning and growth. An internal, non-competitive assessment based on the satisfaction of university community members can offer a more accurate and meaningful picture of a university than an external ranking that has significant financial considerations and may be biased towards superficial metrics.