Laura E. Rumbley, Boston College
Kris M. Smith, George Mason University
Kees Kouwenaar, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Global University Rankings and
Internationalization
Our agenda
•
Our starting point: The Global Academic Rankings Game (2016)
•
Unique experience: GeorgeBoston MasonCollege University
•
Unique experience: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
•
Our (collective) questions, concerns, experiences, solutions…?
Global University Rankings and
Internationalization
Our (collective) questions, concerns, experiences solutions…?
•  What do rankings mean to you?
•  To what extent do rankings drive your strategy?
•  To what extent does your institution’s
situation dictate your
Boston College attitude towards rankings?
•  In what ways can global university rankings facilitate effective
internationalization and global engagement?
•  How (in practical terms) can any negative effects of global
rankings be ameliorated?
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
THE GLOBAL ACADEMIC RANKINGS GAME
A collaborative project
THE GLOBAL ACADEMIC
RANKINGS GAME
Changing Institutional Policy, Practice,
and Academic Life
Edited by Philip G. Altbach, Maria Yudkevich,
and Laura E. Rumbley
Boston College The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
THE GLOBAL ACADEMIC RANKINGS GAME
A comparative project
THE GLOBAL ACADEMIC
RANKINGS GAME
Changing Institutional Policy, Practice,
and Academic Life
Edited by Philip G. Altbach, Maria Yudkevich,
and Laura E. Rumbley
1.  to understand the importance of
global rankings to particular
universities
Boston College 2.
to explore
how rankings are
changing thinking, action, and policy
at the university level
3.  to illustrate how rankings actually
affect the academic enterprise and
the lives of the academic
community in the case study
institutions
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
THE GLOBAL ACADEMIC RANKINGS GAME
A comparative project
THE GLOBAL ACADEMIC
RANKINGS GAME
Changing Institutional Policy, Practice,
and Academic Life
Edited by Philip G. Altbach, Maria Yudkevich,
and Laura E. Rumbley
1.  Australia
2.  Chile
3.  China
Boston College 4.
Germany
5.  Malaysia
6.  The Netherlands
7.  Poland
8.  Russian Federation
9.  Turkey
10. United Kingdom
11. United States
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
1. Australia
?
2. Chile
?
3. China
?
4. Germany
?
5. Malaysia
?
6. The Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
7. Poland
?
8. Russian Federation
?
9. Turkey
?
10. United Kingdom
?
11. United States
Boston College George Mason University
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
1. Australia
Griffith University
2. Chile
?
3. China
?
4. Germany
?
5. Malaysia
?
6. The Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
7. Poland
?
8. Russian Federation
?
9. Turkey
?
10. United Kingdom
?
11. United States
Boston College George Mason University
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
1. Australia
Griffith University
2. Chile
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
3. China
?
4. Germany
?
5. Malaysia
?
6. The Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
7. Poland
?
8. Russian Federation
?
9. Turkey
?
10. United Kingdom
?
11. United States
Boston College George Mason University
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
1. Australia
Griffith University
2. Chile
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
3. China
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
4. Germany
?
5. Malaysia
?
6. The Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
7. Poland
?
8. Russian Federation
?
9. Turkey
?
10. United Kingdom
?
11. United States
Boston College George Mason University
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
1. Australia
Griffith University
2. Chile
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
3. China
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
4. Germany
University of Siegen
5. Malaysia
6. The Netherlands
?
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
7. Poland
?
8. Russian Federation
?
9. Turkey
?
10. United Kingdom
?
11. United States
Boston College George Mason University
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
1. Australia
Griffith University
2. Chile
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
3. China
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
4. Germany
University of Siegen
5. Malaysia
Universitii Boston Kebangsaan
Malaysia
College 6. The Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
7. Poland
?
8. Russian Federation
?
9. Turkey
?
10. United Kingdom
?
11. United States
George Mason University
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
1. Australia
Griffith University
2. Chile
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
3. China
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
4. Germany
University of Siegen
5. Malaysia
Universitii Boston Kebangsaan
Malaysia
College 6. The Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
7. Poland
University of Warsaw
8. Russian Federation
?
9. Turkey
?
10. United Kingdom
?
11. United States
George Mason University
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
1. Australia
Griffith University
2. Chile
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
3. China
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
4. Germany
University of Siegen
5. Malaysia
Universitii Boston Kebangsaan
Malaysia
College 6. The Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
7. Poland
University of Warsaw
8. Russian Federation
National Research University Higher School of
Economics
9. Turkey
?
10. United Kingdom
?
11. United States
George Mason University
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
1. Australia
Griffith University
2. Chile
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
3. China
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
4. Germany
University of Siegen
5. Malaysia
Universitii Boston Kebangsaan
Malaysia
College 6. The Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
7. Poland
University of Warsaw
8. Russian Federation
National Research University Higher School of
Economics
9. Turkey
Middle East Technical University
10. United Kingdom
?
11. United States
George Mason University
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
1. Australia
Griffith University
2. Chile
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
3. China
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
4. Germany
University of Siegen
5. Malaysia
Universitii Boston Kebangsaan
Malaysia
College 6. The Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
7. Poland
University of Warsaw
8. Russian Federation
National Research University Higher School of
Economics
9. Turkey
Middle East Technical University
10. United Kingdom
University of Reading
11. United States
George Mason University
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
A critical project
Boston College The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
A critical project
Rankings internationalize national and institutional frames of
reference
Boston College The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
A critical project
Rankings internationalize national and institutional frames of
reference
+
Boston College -
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
A critical project
Rankings internationalize national and institutional frames of
reference
+
Boston College •  Create new kinds of international
visibility
-
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
A critical project
Rankings internationalize national and institutional frames of
reference
+
Boston College •  Create new kinds of international
visibility
•  Promote reflection and selfevaluation
-
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
A critical project
Rankings internationalize national and institutional frames of
reference
+
Boston College •  Create new kinds of international
visibility
•  Promote reflection and selfevaluation
•  Encourage strategic planning
and investment
-
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
A critical project
Rankings internationalize national and institutional frames of
reference
+
Boston College •  Create new kinds of international
visibility
•  Promote reflection and selfevaluation
•  Encourage strategic planning
and investment
-
•  Distort locally or nationally
focused missions or priorities
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
A critical project
Rankings internationalize national and institutional frames of
reference
+
Boston College •  Create new kinds of international
visibility
•  Promote reflection and selfevaluation
•  Encourage strategic planning
and investment
-
•  Distort locally or nationally
focused missions or priorities
•  Skew assessments of the value
of research
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
A critical project
Rankings internationalize national and institutional frames of
reference
+
Boston College •  Create new kinds of international
visibility
•  Promote reflection and selfevaluation
•  Encourage strategic planning
and investment
-
•  Distort locally or nationally
focused missions or priorities
•  Skew assessments of the value
of research
•  Create haves and have-nots
within national system
The Global Academic Rankings Game
(2016)
A critical project
Rankings internationalize national and institutional frames of
reference
+
Boston College •  Create new kinds of international
visibility
•  Promote reflection and selfevaluation
•  Encourage strategic planning
and investment
-
•  Distort locally or nationally
focused missions or priorities
•  Skew assessments of the value
of research
•  Create haves and have-nots
within national system
Foster efforts to find pragmatic solutions that
leverage benefits and minimize liabilities
United States Higher Education
Rankings in the United States
More Na/onal than Global Focus on Baccalaureate Interest in global rankings is mostly limited to research universi/es. Federal College Scorecard A University for the World •  Established 1972 •  34,000 students •  206 Academic Programs •  Campuses – 3 in VA, 1 in South Korea •  Carnegie: Very High Research •  Washington DC metro •  Diverse campus George Mason University George Mason & World Rankings
Mason 151-­‐200 Mason 414 Mason 301-­‐350 Mason 370 Mason 651-­‐700 Challenges •  Results vary greatly •  Use of rankings by other countries impacts Mason Opportuni/es •  Variety advantage •  Global efforts George Mason University First author Peter N. Stearns, Provost Emeritus & University Professor with a student Rankings & Institutional Strategy
•  Mason is clearly impacted by the rankings •  Rankings influence strategy only to the extent that their metrics are used to measure ins/tu/onal progress and provide peer comparisons •  Some ins/tu/onal strategies will serve to enhance Mason’s posi/ons in the rankings, other strategies may have a nega/ve impact •  Mason will con/nue to pursue diverse avenues to expand its global ac/vi/es and partnerships Rankings in the Netherlands
What impacts the impact of
Ranking
A Highland plateau without
peaks
Top 5% of universi/es universi/es All PhD gran/ng universi/es Real indicators below the
Rankings
Times Higher World university ranking: CitaCon score: field & size normalised University CitaCon score Erasmus 95.6 Vrije Universiteit Utrecht 90.7 Over University all Rank 63.5 71 Radboud Nijmegen 52.5 154 Groningen 88.1 66.6 Wageningen 87.8 University of Amsterdam Leiden Overall score 84.9 Overall Rank 55.9 125 84.0 62.4 74 62 Maastricht 82.7 59.9 62 70.0 47 Eindhoven 70.7 50.6 176 87.4 67.8 58 Twente 68.8 52.9 149 85.2 65.7 67 DelY Tilburg 61.5 51.5 65.9 57.4 65 201-­‐250 CitaCon score Overall score Indicators for Education
From: European Skills Panorama Global University Rankings and
Internationalization
Our (collective) questions, concerns, experiences solutions…?
•  What do rankings mean to you?
•  To what extent do rankings drive your strategy?
•  To what extent does your institution’s
situation dictate your
Boston College attitude towards rankings?
•  In what ways can global university rankings facilitate effective
internationalization and global engagement?
•  How (in practical terms) can any negative effects of global
rankings be ameliorated?
Laura E. Rumbley, Boston College
Kris M. Smith, George Mason University
Kees Kouwenaar, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam