Ranking decisions: a comparative analysis of universities’ COVID-19 responses and Quacquarelli Symonds rankings

• In Event: Poster Group 6
  In Poster Session: Ranking decisions: a comparative analysis of universities’ COVID-19 responses and Quacquarelli Symonds rankings

Proposal

Global university rankings remain an influential determinant of university prestige. Universities therefore consider rankings when developing institutional policies. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States adopted various modes of instruction (MOI), broadly categorized as "online" or "not online." This comparative study analyzes the relationship between universities’ Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking and their fall 2020 MOI. Specifically it sought to determine whether universities’ prestige, as gauged by pre-semester international QS rankings, was linked to their MOI decisions, and whether their MOI policies were associated with changes in post-semester rankings. The 2021 QS rankings were “pre-semester” since they were the last rankings released before the fall 2020 semester; the 2022 rankings were “post-semester” rankings because they were the first ones released after fall 2020. The analysis focused on schools ranked in the top 500 of the 2020 QS rankings. Fall 2020 MOI data was sorted into a binary “online”/“not online” variable as coded by the College Crisis Initiative (C2i). C2i collected MOI data for American schools on October 23, 2020; it collected MOI data on schools in other countries in late July and early August 2020. The study drew upon the neo-institutional theory of mimetic isomorphism, which posits that institutions make decisions to imitate institutions perceived as successful or prestigious. The study employed an ordinary least squares regression analysis to analyze whether universities’ pre-semester rankings impacted their MOI decision. The first test regressed universities’ MOI decision on their 2021 ranking with the United States as the comparison variable. The second employed the same test while controlling for universities’ home countries. Next, the study analyzed whether universities MOI affected their QS 2021-2022 ranking delta. Using t-tests for differences in independent means, the study compared differences among universities by country and prestige. Prestige was quantified in the t-tests by dividing universities into two groups based on the 2021 QS ranking: 1-249 and 250-500. The study found no clear relationship between universities’ pre-semester rankings and their MOI decisions. On the other hand, a school’s decision to go online was associated with an average rise of 3.51 places in the post-semester rankings, while schools that opted against online instruction dropped an average of 4.64 places. American universities and universities ranked between 250 and 500 in the pre-semester QS rankings drove these trends. This study demonstrates that controversial policies can unexpectedly benefit universities’ rankings—a notable finding for both activists and institutions in a time of protests and social movements around higher education policies. It falls in an emerging body of research examining institutional decision making during COVID-19, but to the authors’ knowledge uniquely marries rankings research with COVID decision-making research in a comparative international study.

Author

• Steve Mirabello