This week the INORMS Research Evaluation Working Group published the findings of its work to develop a method for rating the World University Rankings. Critical evaluation of international comparisons according to principles of responsible research evaluation are an important way that the community can better understand how rankings work, and to turn a critical lens towards improving them.
Projeto Métricas was grateful to be invited to be one of the reviewers in this important initiative, and are happy to have contributed to the constructive conversation on how to improve the way in which universities are assessed.
It is clear that there is a long way to go before World University Rankings can claim to meet community expectations around transparency, governance, rigour and measuring what matters, with some having further to go than others. Let’s hope this work provides some food for thought by those who develop, and rely on, university rankings.
A blog post including a link to the assessment data for six of the largest university rankings is available here.
For more information on the principles that the working group formulated, the SCOPE process is described here