Rankings and Classifications in Higher Education: A European Perspective

Wende, Marijk van der

doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6959-8_2

Cited by 27 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…University rankings became a subject of many scientific discussions connected mainly with methods of selection of data and weights, the presentation of classification's results, as well as the reliability of data (Proulx 2007;Raan 2007;Tofallis 2012;Dill, Soo 2005;Rocki 2005;Saisana, D'Hombres 2008;Wende 2008;Harwey 2008). The results of this article may be a significant voice in the ongoing debate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Transparency of University Rankings in the Effective Management of University

Jarocka

2015

Business, Management and Education

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University rankings are extremely important not only for future student, but also for universities themselves. They have a large impact on the institutions of higher education. A lot of universities believe, that rankings help them to maintain and create a reputation. Ranking systems function as some kind of fashion arena, where universities make comparisons between themselves. Universities want to improve their position in published classifications, so very often they try to change their policy and strategy. They also try to influence the ranking indicators, for example by hiring Nobel Prize winners. Therefore, there is an increasing need for reliable and transparent information about schools. However universities need not only statistical data, but also the tools, which will be useful in their comparisons and evaluations. The article presents the possibility of using one of the methods of graphic presentation of multidimensional empirical data structure, so called RGM, proposed by M. Rybaczuk. Thanks to this method universities could easily compare one another. They also could identify the fields of their activities, in which they are able to be better. The proposed way of graphical presentation of the universities could be a useful addition to traditional rankings, which just show us a lists of schools from the best to the worst.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Transparency of University Rankings in the Effective Management of University

Jarocka

2015

Business, Management and Education

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“…Complementing this standardizing trend in the schooling sector, English teacher education institutions preparing the next generation of English teachers are amending their courses so that they closely align with generic, internationally standardized higher education frameworks such as the Bologna Protocols (Higher Education Ministers in the European Higher Education Area 2010; see also Wende 2008). In Australia, accreditation policies and processes prescribe in detail a common set of 'entry criteria and conditions … program structure and content, as well as graduate outcomes', despite assurances as to the 'flexibility in how both providers and program participants achieve high standards and demonstrate them' (AITSL 2011, 2).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional Learning and the Unfinalizable: English Educators Writing and Telling Stories Together

Parr

Bulfin

2015

Changing English

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Standards-based education reforms and intensified accountability regimes are now a feature of most countries' agendas to improve the quality of their teaching workforces. One of the direct consequences of these reforms is a requirement that teachers demonstrate their ongoing participation in forms of professional development or professional learning throughout their careers. Along with this, there has been a narrowing of what is acknowledged by standards-based accountability regimes as discipline-based professional knowledge and 'valuable' professional development. This essay is a dialogic, reflexive account of a professional learning and writing project for English teachers and teacher educators in Australia, begun in 2013, called the stella2.0 project. The project builds on the groundbreaking work of the STELLA project in Australia from the turn of the century, and some other models of teacher writing projects across the world. Drawing on Cavarero, we critically scrutinize writing and storytelling in the dialogic professional community of the stella2.0 project, and in the process 'speak back' to standards-based reform policies that undermine English educators' agency and professionalism.

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“…There has been abundant recognition of the fact that global rankings seem to enhance this effect (for an overview see Van der Wende, 2008). In this sense, in the context of the research university, undergraduate education is more endangered than professional or graduate education.…”

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confidence: 99%

Trends towards Global Excellence in Undergraduate Education: Taking the Liberal Arts Experience into the 21st Century

Wende

2013

International Journal of Chinese Education

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Dissatisfaction over undergraduate education seems to be persistent and has been jeopardized by the boost in research performance as fuelled by global rankings. Yet it will continue to be the cornerstone and a key mission of higher education. Hence the tide is shifting and the global debate on "the world-class university" is increasingly inclusive towards excellence in teaching and learning. A renewed focus on liberal arts education is part of this global debate on redefining excellence. This article aims to explain why liberal arts education, as it is (re)emerging in different regions, seems to be an adequate response to the search for excellence in the 21st century. It explores the drivers for liberal arts education from an epistemological, economic and a social-moral point of view. The role of interdisciplinarity, generic skills, and citizenship in different regional context are discussed, and also an admission that a liberal arts education is no panacea --that various limitations should be overcome and a truly global perspective is needed. UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION AND ITS DISCONTENTSAmid the massification of higher education, undergraduate education and its discontents is a subject of intensive discussion and analysis. The central elements of dissatisfaction are poor learning outcomes, student disengagement, low retention rates, stagnant or decreasing graduation rates, and lengthening time to degree. Conditions deteriorate, with overcrowded lecture halls, impoverished staff-student ratios, weakening of the research-teaching nexus, and faculty indifference to undergraduate teaching. Moreover, despite relentless efforts, persistent and or growing inequalities exist, while the undergraduate experience is becoming less affordable as a public service. As summarized by Muscatine: "the product of the present curriculum -despite a residue of good learning by good students in good courses -could hardly be called either excellent or economic" (2009, 51). Even in the most elite universities, disappointment with undergraduate achievement has been acknowledged (Bok, 2006; Lewis, 2006).

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Rankings and Classifications in Higher Education: A European Perspective

Cited by 27 publications

References 27 publications

Transparency of University Rankings in the Effective Management of University

Transparency of University Rankings in the Effective Management of University

Professional Learning and the Unfinalizable: English Educators Writing and Telling Stories Together

Trends towards Global Excellence in Undergraduate Education: Taking the Liberal Arts Experience into the 21st Century

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