46.017 - University Rankings and the Politics of Higher Education

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

U.S. News and World Report’s college rankings have provided consumer-focused information since the mid-1980s; global university rankings emerged in 2003 with publication of Shanghai’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, and others have since joined the fray. The combined effect has reshaped the higher education landscape, as universities and nations vie for status and power within the international knowledge system. Research suggests growing hierarchical differentiation and social stratification between selective, research, elite universities and recruiting, teaching, mass HEIs, educational systems – and their respective societies. This symposium brings together scholars and policy observers from Australia, Canada, Europe and the US to discuss the role of rankings as a consequence of globalisation and catalyst for change, a policy instrument and a management tool.

Sub Unit

• International Relations Committee

Chair

• Ellen Hazelkorn, Dublin Institute of Technology

Papers

• Global Rankings and the Geopolitics in Education Markets - Brendan Cantwell, Michigan State University

• Rankings and the "Public Good" Role of Higher Education - Ellen Hazelkorn, Dublin Institute of Technology

• Institutional Diversity and Higher Education Systems - Gavin Moodie, University of Toronto

• University Rankings, Public Accountability, and Educational Improvement - Alexander C. McCormick, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Assessing Higher Education Learning Outcomes Globally: A Complement or Substitute to Rankings? - Hamish Bennett Coates, University of Melbourne

Discussant

• William G. Tierney, University of Southern California