Reputation and rankings

Authors

  • Martí Parellada UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA / INSTITUT D’ECONOMIA DE BARCELONA / FUNDACIÓN CONOCIMIENTO Y DESARROLLO
  • Montserrat Álvarez UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA / FUNDACIÓN CONOCIMIENTO Y DESARROLLO

Abstract

Over the last decade global rankings of universities have begun to grow in importance allowing national and international comparison of higher education institutions. In fact, they are already at the heart of public discussion about the role of universities in our societies because they provide a way of measuring and comparing the quality and results of these institutions and thereby, influencing their reputation. The most important of these rankings (such as the Academic Ranking of World Universities, Shanghai Ranking, Times Higher Education World University Ranking, and QS World University Ranking). All of these put universities into a league table where the ranking of a given institution is based on a composite score that reflects the weights of several individual indicators. This article reviews the methodology of three rankings, focusing on their limitations and weaknesses (such as over‑stressing research or their subjectivity in setting specific weights for each individual indicator). Finally, we present the U‑Multirank, promoted by the European Commission, which seeks to overcome the limitations of traditional rankings. It is an alternative way to rank universities, based on their performance as gauged by a wide number of indicators in five dimensions—(1) Teaching and Learning; (2) Research; (3) Knowledge Transfer; (4) International Orientation; (5) Regional Engagement—and in several subjects.

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Author Biographies

Martí Parellada, UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA / INSTITUT D’ECONOMIA DE BARCELONA / FUNDACIÓN CONOCIMIENTO Y DESARROLLO

Martí Parellada is Senior Professor of Applied Economics at Barcelona University (UB). He is the director of the
Annual Report on the Spanish Universities’ Contribution to Development at the Fundación CYD [foundation
promoting universities’ contribution to Spain’s social and economic development], and the CYD Ranking, as well
as at the Institut d’Economia de Barcelona, which is part of UB. He has written many papers on the role played
by universities and on the region’s economy

Montserrat Álvarez, UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA / FUNDACIÓN CONOCIMIENTO Y DESARROLLO

Montserrat Álvarez was awarded her PhD in Economics from UB. She currently belongs to the Technical Committee of The Foundation for Knowledge and Development (Fundación CYD) and is an Associate Professor at UB’s Faculty of Economics and Business. At present, her main field of research is the contribution made by universities to the economy and to society.

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Published

2017-12-19

How to Cite

Parellada, M. and Álvarez, M. (2017) “Reputation and rankings”, Debats. Journal on culture, power and society, 2. Available at: https://revistadebats.net/article/view/1721 (Accessed: 22 December 2024).

Issue

Section

SPECIAL ISSUE 2