Tuesday, August 26, 2008

In a league of their own

The Guardian today has news of the latest Shanghai Jiao Tong league table of world university rankings. Universities in the US once again completely dominate these rankings. Why does this particular league table get so much attention?

Let's remind ourselves what Kathleen Lynch said at our Symposium about the Jiao Tong criteria for the 2007 league table:

10% for Nobel laureates among graduates
20% for Nobel laureates awarded to current staff
20% for Articles in Nature and Science
20% for Highly cited researchers in 21 areas (predominately science or technology).
20% for Articles in Science Citation Index-expanded and Social Science Citation Index
10% for overall academic performance: weighted scores on the above five indices divided by full-time equivalent academic staff members

This would actually be a good exercise for budding managers of higher education institutions: devise a mission statement and research strategy that just might propel your institution into the dizzy heights of a league table such as this.

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