Title: league tables as policy instruments: the political economy of accountability in tertiary education
1league tables as policy instruments the
political economy of accountability in tertiary
education
-
- Jamil Salmi and Alenoush Saroyan
- 2nd IREG Meeting
- Berlin, 18-21 May 2006
2Lexus-Nexus index on rankings
1981-85 1986-90 1991-95 1996-00 2001-06
Asia/Pacific Asia/Pacific 0 0 6 18 27
Middle East/Africa Middle East/Africa 0 0 0 1 9
Europe 0 0 2 24 68
N. S. America N. S. America 0 3 17 23 68
3 The rankings business
A ranking of league tables September 10, 2005
4and the winner is
5outline of the presentation
- typology of rankings
- a world of controversies
- do rankings measure quality?
- policy implications
6typology of rankingshow is it done?
- statistical indicators
- produced by institutions
- publicly available
- survey of stakeholders
- employers
- professors
- students
- combination of both
7typology of rankings what does it apply to?
- entire institution or specific program
- gives a global score or measures several
dimensions separately - research or teaching / learning
8who prepares the ranking?
- A Ranking prepared by government agency
(Ministry of Higher Education, Higher Education
Commission, University Grants Council, etc.) - B Ranking prepared by independent organization
/ professional association / university - C Ranking prepared and published by newspaper /
magazine - D Ranking prepared by accreditation agency
- I International ranking (IA, IB, IC and ID
linking the international dimension to the type
of institution conducting the ranking)
9ranking systems in 2006
Region National and International Ranking System
Eastern Europe and Central Asia Poland (C), Slovakia (B), Russia (B), Ukraine (B)
East Asia and Pacific Australia (B), China (B, IB), Hong Kong (C), Japan (C), New Zealand (A), Thailand (A)
Latin America and the Caribbean Argentina (D)
Middle East and North Africa
North America Canada (C), United States (C)
South Asia India (D), Pakistan (A)
Sub-Saharan Africa Nigeria (A)
Western Europe Germany (B/C), Italy (C), Netherlands (A), Spain (B), United Kingdom (A, B, IC)
10outline of the presentation
- typology of rankings
- a world of controversies
11a thin line between love and hate
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13a thin line between love and hate
- disagreement with principle (Anglo-Saxon
exercise)
14a thin line between love and hate
- disagreement with principle (Anglo-Saxon
exercise) - criticism of methodology
15a thin line between love and hate
- disagreement with principle (Anglo-Saxon
exercise) - criticism of methodology
- boycotts
16boycotts
17boycotts
- Asiaweek
- US News and World Report
18a thin line between love and hate
- disagreement with principle (Anglo-Saxon
exercise) - criticism of methodology
- boycotts (Asiaweek, USA)
- court actions (New Zealand, Holland)
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20outline of the presentation
- typology of rankings
- a world of controversies
- do rankings measure quality?
21the Anglo-Saxon factor
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23shortcomings
- methodological flaws
- design
- choice of indicators (very few meaningful
measures of quality of teaching and learning - weight among indicators
- reliability of data
- no true measure of quality
- wrongly used as one size fits all
- encourage universities to adjust to the ranking
criteria
24outline of the presentation
- typology of rankings
- a world of controversies
- do rankings measure quality?
- policy implications
25usefulness of rankings?
- for the Government?
- for the institutions?
- for the public?
26government use of rankings
27government use of rankings
- Pakistan case
- promoting a culture of accurate and transparent
information
28government use of rankings
- Pakistan case
- promoting a culture of accurate and transparent
information - promoting a culture of quality
29from the viewpoint of institutions
- sensitive to factors that affect their rankings
(benchmarking) - goal setting for strategic planning purposes
- forming strategic alliances
30applying public pressure
31applying public pressure
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33applying public pressure
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35conclusion divisive or helpful?
36conclusion divisive or helpful?
37conclusion divisive or helpful?
- rankings are here to stay
- useful for prospective students
- useful in the absence of an established
evaluation and/or accreditation system - useful for benchmarking, goal-setting and
self-improvement purposes - useful to conduct a healthy debate on issues and
challenges - useful to promote a culture of accountability
38principles of an appropriate ranking instrument
- compare similar institutions
- better to focus on program than on entire
institution - better to rank by indicator than wholesale
(Germany Pakistan) - better to focus on results rather than inputs
(labor market outcomes, publications, patents) - better if used for self-improvement purposes
- better to advertise results publicly than to keep
them secret
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