Page 266 - Becoming Metric Wise

258 Becoming Metric-Wise

essential functions of a university. Among these functions we mention
teaching purely professional skills (typically in engineering studies, medi-
cine, education, etc.) but also training the future political, social, eco-
nomic and cultural leaders of the country, and of the world. Nowadays
teaching is not restricted anymore to one’s class room, but may include
the whole world via so-called MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses).
Public engagement of academics should be rewarded with recognition
and support. The best university is certainly not an institute directed only
at certain “professions,” say in the medical field, but an institute that is
large enough to cover a broad variety of fields. Such a university also
reaches a balance between the sexes and between different layers of the
population (Van Parijs, 2009).

8.4 UNIVERSITY RANKINGS

A special phenomenon related to university evaluation is the occurrence
of world-wide university rankings and the related phenomenon of world-
class universities. This section is partially based on a review published in
Rousseau (2009b).

8.4.1 University Rankings: an Introduction
Ranking universities and research institutions, and this on a world-wide
scale, is a rather recent phenomenon. Yet, it has captured the whole sci-
entific world. In 1983 Bob Morse from U.S. News and World Reports
started the yearly publication of America’s Best Colleges. Since then many
other magazines all over the world followed his example. However, since
2003 a new phenomenon occurred: that of worldwide rankings. The
Institute of Higher Education of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China
was the first to publish such a ranking. Soon the Times Higher Education
Supplement (THES), and the World Universities’ Ranking on the Web
(http://www.webometrics.info) followed. Such lists have given rise to so-
called world-class universities, namely those universities topping these lists
(Deem et al., 2008; Ortega & Aguillo, 2009). Each country, and espe-
cially the new scientific tigers (say the BRICKS countries, i.e., the group
of upcoming countries consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, (South)
Korea, and South Africa), wants to have one or more world-class univer-
sities on its territory (Ngok & Guo, 2008). Nowadays the notion of a
world-class university is discussed in hundreds of blogs on the Internet.
Clearly, the notion of a world-class university is strongly linked to the