World University Rankings pivotal to universities' international standing

by Professor Roy Crawford, Chair, Universities New Zealand – Te Pōkai Tara and Vice- Chancellor, University of Waikato

Universities have a love-hate relationship with world university rankings – they are positive about them when they do well, much less so when they experience a decline. Universities are justifiably cynical in regard to the methodology employed by the three main ranking systems, [i] because they attempt to attach a single number to a multi-dimensional entity and by doing so they influence what they are purporting to measure - the international standing of universities. However it seems inevitable that the rankings are here to stay and they cannot be ignored.

Rankings are seen as providing easily accessible information about university reputation and performance.  Internationally, and also domestically, students and their parents view rankings as one independent measure of quality to help them decide where to study. While the university sector may lament the oversimplification of an institution’s quality and performance as conveyed by rankings, for some they are the most important factor in their choice of university. Rankings also influence bilateral education and research relationships. Increasingly, some countries will only enter into an agreement with universities that meet certain ranking thresholds. For example the Brazilian Government’s Science Without Borders, a national scholarship programme, only sends its students and researchers to universities which do well in the QS and THE rankings.

Late last year there was widespread media coverage in New Zealand when the QS rankings were released. The top 10 was dominated by the usual institutions from the United States and the United Kingdom, with MIT, Harvard University and the University of Cambridge making up the top three respectively. On a positive note for New Zealand, all eight of our universities were placed in the world’s top 500 for the first time. However, the results also showed a collective decline in the rankings for our universities – a pattern that has been evident for some years.

The actual scores achieved by our universities in the 2013 ranking criteria were about the same as the previous year, or had improved, so the slide in overall rankings was not due to deterioration in performance, but rather the high investment some countries are making in their universities, particularly those from East Asia. These countries are seeing the biggest improvements in their rankings.  Simply put, we are doing better, but others are improving faster than us. The rankings reflect the increased competitiveness of the international university market and the strong correlation between institutional revenue per student and university world rankings. [ii]

While other countries are investing more, our income and expenditure per student is among the lowest in the western world. While no other country spending at the level we do performs as well in the rankings, making our university system the most efficient in the world, the crux of the matter remains: how can New Zealand’s universities compete when other countries are investing heavily in the quality and reputation of their universities while our funding per student at an institutional level continues to erode? Another impediment we have to contend with is the reduction in contestable research funding available to universities.

Our universities have worked hard to retain quality in their teaching and research, and our international reputation remains strong, but we are close to a tipping point. We cannot sustain this high quality and do well in university rankings when funding per student on an institutional basis remains so low. Higher revenue per student would enable us to improve student:staff ratios (criteria used by both the QS and THE ranking systems). Universities New Zealand believes it would also enhance our ability to attract the best overseas students to meet the Government’s goal of doubling the value of international education by 2025, and improve our capacity to compete globally for research and academic talent. This in turn would expand opportunities to advance top tier research and to publish in the top journals (with number of citations another major criteria in rankings). The ability to attract top student and staff, with long term benefits in advancing teaching and research, will support both the university and enhance economic activity in the local region and country.

New Zealand’s universities embrace innovation in areas such as online learning, and understand the need to further build international partnerships with overseas universities and alumni. They have also strived to emphasise their strengths, particularly in individual subjects, where many make the QS top 100 subject rankings in areas such as agricultural science, law, finance and accounting.

An article published last year [iii] concluded that New Zealand universities must continue to be competitive but need to find ways to do this without increased investment. In my view our universities are highly adaptable institutions, and they have been successful in diversifying their sources of revenue, but when we look at what is happening overseas the public funding side of the equation cannot be sidestepped. Our universities need adequate funding on a per student basis (rather than the current volume based system), which would better enable our universities to compete across a number of fronts such as delivering research excellence, attracting top researchers and academics, and recruiting a higher number of international students, especially at postgraduate level. [iv] High research funding and performance, including highly cited research outputs, are also crucial as they significantly impact rankings.

New Zealand’s universities are ambitious and have bold aspirations for their students and staff. They are also determined to enhance their contribution to our nation’s development. They are not resting on their laurels and recognise their potential to make an even greater impact on the public good. They continue to grapple with various challenges such as the constraints on public funding, and the policies that impose restrictions on increasing student fees and accessing research funding. These challenges have not halted their aspirations to raise academic and research quality. However, Universities New Zealand believes that a rethink by government of the value proposition of investing in universities is essential to stem our decline in rankings and the negative repercussions this would have on New Zealand universities and society.

[i] Numerous reports have highlighted weaknesses in the main rankings systems including: the reliance on surveys of academics and employers that measure perception rather than actual performance; using student/staff ratios as the sole measure of quality teaching; and criteria about publication of articles which favour universities with medical schools and those with a science focus.

[ii] Data from Thomas Reuters demonstrates the correlation between institutional revenue per student and international rankings.

[iii] New Zealand Education Review, December 2013

[iv] While the overall numbers of students enrolled at university is high, New Zealand’s proportion of postgraduate students is under the OECD average. However, numbers of postgraduate students are on the rise.