By Ruth A. Pagell* (7 Apr 2021) It is worth checking the updated rankings for changes in methodology or in top universities. Major changes at the top rarely happen as is the case with the updates from QS subject rankings, THE’s Emerging Economies, the student-focused Japanese Universities, and Nature Index Asia Pacific. Look away…
(22 Mar 2021) University rankings are imbued with great significance by university staff and leadership teams and the outcomes of their ranking systems can have significant material consequences. Drawing on a curious example from their own institution, Jelena Brankovic argues that taking rankings as proxies for quality or performance in a linear-causal fashion is a…
Here’s the complete list of Ruth’s Rankings and News Updates on Librarylearningspace.com: Introduction: Unwinding the Web of International Research Rankings A Brief History of Rankings and Higher Education Policy Bibliometrics: What We Count and How We Count The Big Two: Thomson Reuters and Scopus Comparing Times Higher Education (THE) and QS Rankings Scholarly Rankings from…
By Ruth A. Pagell* (7 Apr 2020) The first quarter of the year is a slow time for updated rankings. Three new updates are QS’ subject rankings and THE’s Japan Universities and Emerging Economies. Two articles in the Nature Index blog are of bibliometric interest. How do subject rankings in QS compare with those in THE,…
(3 October 2018) The role of higher education is changing, and the existing research-led university model and the system of university ranking and evaluation need to evolve with the times, Singapore’s Education Minister Ong Ye Kung told an international higher education conference recently. “After all, every industry we know of is subject to disruption,” he…
By Ruth Pagell* What institution is the most innovative in the Asia-Pacific region? What type of innovation ranking can you find on U-Multirank? (13 July 2018) In this article and the one following, we look at new rankings of universities and their countries from the perspective of innovation as measured by patents. This article introduces…
(18 November 2017) The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library, recently sponsored Ruth Pagell’s trip to Asia to speak to librarians, faculty, students and administrators about university rankings. Her talk to HKUST on 9 November, World University Rankings: How to be Number One together with the powerpoint presentation, are streamed here: http://stream.ust.hk/service/watch.php?stream=lib/o/991012552668403412.mp4 After Hong Kong, Ruth…
“…regardless of our views about their merit or otherwise, rankings matter” (Hazelkorn 2017, pg. 1) “Universities…are obsessed with gaining status in one or more national or global rankings…They should quit now”. (Altbach &Hazelkorn, 2017) By Ruth A. Pagell* (1 September 2017) Our first columns in 2014 introduced bibliometrics. We then presented the various rankings, their…
(4 April 2017) Times Higher Education released its first Japan University Rankings, using a new methodology which focuses on student success. This methodology will be used in other individual country rankings. Data for the rankings come from a variety of sources. These include Elsevier, Benesse Corporation, Nikkei Human Resources, the Japanese government and the Times Higher…
(9 January 2017) Does your position in global university rankings matter? The Higher Education Policy Institute’s latest report on ranking has further stoked debate about how accurate and how useful international university rankings are. University World News asked its author and ranking experts to share their views. Read what they have to say here.