Why universities are boycotting global rankings: ‘Black boxes, work as closed systems’, Pg16

Key Highlights:

• Sorbonne University withdrew from the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings due to concerns about transparency and methodology.
• Global university rankings, including QS, THE, and ShanghaiRanking, are facing increased scrutiny regarding their data and impact.
• Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), including IIT Delhi, boycotted THE rankings since 2020 due to transparency issues.
• Rankings methodologies rely on factors like reputation surveys, citations, and research output, which institutions find biased.

Detailed Insights:

• Global rankings influence student perceptions, employer views, and policy decisions, but their methodologies are often opaque.
• QS uses academic reputation (30%), citations per faculty (20%), and employer reputation (15%) among its indicators.
• THE relies heavily on research environment and quality (59%) and uses surveys to assess teaching and research reputation.
• ShanghaiRanking emphasizes quality of research, faculty, and education, including Nobel Prize winners and Fields Medalists.
• Concerns include the overemphasis on English-language journals, disadvantaging humanities and social sciences.
• Some institutions manipulate citation counts by encouraging faculty to cite each other's work, raising ethical questions.
• National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), India's ranking system, faces similar criticisms regarding transparency.
• Utrecht University also withdrew from THE rankings, citing excessive focus on competition and scoring.
• Rankings use subscription-based tools like Scopus to assess research metrics, creating a barrier for institutions without subscriptions.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Global Rankings: Assessments of universities worldwide based on various metrics.
• Transparency: Openness and clarity in the data and methods used for rankings.
• Reputation Surveys: Assessments of institutional quality based on opinions of academics and employers.