Facing the Rankings - Conference, 20-21 January 2011, Vienna

The interactive conference "Facing the rankings - Using benchmarking tools for strategic positioning" (Vienna, 20-21 January 2011) will look at the value of benchmarking as a modern management tool among the range of transparency tools such as classifications, rankings and benchmarking exercises while at the same time discuss the relevance and strength of indicators, focusing more specifically on internationalization, university-enterprise cooperation and regional innovation and linking them directly to the work carried out in the U-Map and U-Multirank projects.
More information on the Project and Conference website.

Identifying the Best: The CHE ExcellenceRanking 2010

The CHE Centre for Higher Education Development (Gütersloh/Germany) has designed an “ExcellenceRanking”, a ranking of a selected group of European Universities. The CHE applied a two-step approach for analysis. First, all European departments in the surveyed fields were compared by a few general indicators. Second, for those departments that excelled in these indicators, an indepth analysis was run based on an institutional questionnaire and a student survey. The first issue of the ranking, released in 2007, concentrated on the natural sciences and mathematics. The second issue, released in 2009, was dedicated to economics, political science and psychology. In 2010, the study was repeated for the natural sciences. The paper issued in October 2010 covers the results from the 2009 and 2010 issues.

Ranking on US doctoral programs

The Chronicle has published its interactive ranking on US doctoral programs for 2010. About 5,000 university doctoral programs, in 59 fields of study, have been ranked in terms of quality by the National Research Council. The Chronicle is a weekly newspaper with news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and administrators.

Global rankings system methodology reflects universities’ core missions

Times Higher Education magazine has just published the full and final methodology for its 2010 World University Rankings. Weightings for all 13 indicators revealed.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=413382

Interim Report from CHERPA

You can find the interim report as well as the list of inidcators of the new EU-Ranking here

Times Higher Ranking under fire

The World University Ranking of the British Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) produces a worldwide ranking of 200 universities based on five qualitative and quantitative indicators. The ranking list was compiled for the first time in 2004. Altogether, analysis covered over 600 universities, which were identified by scientific experts. In addition to a global ranking, rankings by scientific fields were made. Unlike the Shanghai ranking list, the THES ranking list includes a globally executed Peer Review: about 9000 academics from five continents have been asked to nominate leading universities in the fields in which they are considered experts. THE tries to explain in a positive way why a change is needed:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=411312&c=1
In fact the problem is always the DATA. Long time before Phil Baty's statement about the errors and mistakes in the THE ranking in the ZEIT we knew that rankings are on fire. Some likes them some hate them, but we have to leave with them. The swiss initiative to understand how rankings work may halb to create an understanding of "live together". We still know that rankings have to be improved as HE has to be changed as well. Misunderstnading, critisisms, errors and discussions are the engings of this. We have to deal with this new situation as the swiss did it. We have to live with rankings so we have to inform, use and improve....

New RANKING website for CH universties

A new initiative in Schwitzerland tries to explain and promote rankings. The website gives a good overview about the well knowned rankings like shanghai or Times Higher. The web site looks also behing the results and explain the different methodologies and intentions. A good initiative to watch closer the enemy RANKING.