Rankings have weaknesses and unintended consequences, says European University Association
The European University Association has set out a series of concerns about international league tables that compare higher education institutions, and suggested ways institutions should consider responding.
University rankings have become a fact of university life, according to the EUA, as they are used in a variety of ways including by students in deciding where to study and sometimes in the assessment of researchers.
But in a briefing paper released on 17 October, the EUA—which represents more than 800 universities across Europe—added its voice to growing criticism of rankings in the R&D sector.
According to the EUA, the picture presented by university rankings is “clouded by the commercial interests of many rankings providers and by a lack of transparency around their methodologies”.
Diversity not reflected
The EUA said rankings were “effectively summary scores based on data that happens to be available internationally”, adding that this leads to the risk that available rather than relevant data is used as a proxy for quality.
Rankings describe a university’s quality according to a “very limited set of parameters”, which are largely the same for all institutions regardless of their size, location, mission and financing model, the paper added.
“The immense diversity of higher education systems and institutions can neither be accounted for nor reflected,” it said.
The EUA raised concerns that rankings lead to declining diversity in higher education as smaller or specialised universities tend to be excluded or ranked lower. It called for the fundamental differences between universities to be acknowledged.
Not relevant for strategy
It also urged universities to avoid investing time and energy in improving rankings results and instead follow “holistic institutional strategies”.
Use of rankings should be avoided in research assessment, the EUA added. This is in line with the EU-wide push to improve the way research is assessed with the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment. The EUA was heavily involved in setting up Coara and developing its founding principles.
The group said institutions should encourage students to conduct their own research into prospective places of study, considering rankings as “one possible source of information, at best”.
It also said that institutions should clearly communicate their reasons for or against participating in rankings.
Correction 18/10 – This article originally stated erroneously that EUA co-funds Coara