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ok so the times higher& #39;s big back-slapping party is in full swing, so as i& #39;m on strike i have a bit of headspace to do a little googling into THE, and their university ranking system which is in partnership with elsevier - the big publisher
and there is this amazing snippet from m& #39;hamed el aisati (vp of product management for elsevier - working with THE) where he says the below few things, which need a little unpicking
so straight away we are through the looking glass, as these rankings are
& #39;not designed to say that one university is better than another& #39;
oh right, so they are rankings, but they... do not... rank? or they rank, but not in a & #39;this is better& #39; way, but & #39;this is different& #39; way?
& #39;not designed to say that one university is better than another& #39;
oh right, so they are rankings, but they... do not... rank? or they rank, but not in a & #39;this is better& #39; way, but & #39;this is different& #39; way?
but then there is chat about universities needing to know their & #39;position& #39; and & #39;progress& #39; - well, that last one seems a bit like a value judgement to me & #39;progress& #39; eh?
and a & #39;basket of diverse metrics& #39; which are used to understand & #39;strengths& #39; - and presumably, therefore weaknesses. and presumably, more strengths will rank a university above one without such strengths... but of course it& #39;s not saying one university& #39;s & #39;better& #39;, just, strengthier?
and trevor barratt, md of THE, says & #39;how can we work together to help universities improve their performance and benefit the world at large?& #39;
so is this a ranking or not?
so is this a ranking or not?
now of course this is all facetious on my part because *of course they are saying one university is better than another*
the interesting question seems to be - why pretend? why have a ranking system, and then say that it isn& #39;t about who is the best? who is that for?
the interesting question seems to be - why pretend? why have a ranking system, and then say that it isn& #39;t about who is the best? who is that for?
it isn& #39;t the senior leadership teams, clearly.
is it the university workers in knowledge exchange, research, teaching, development? do they believe it?
i doubt it.
is it the university workers in knowledge exchange, research, teaching, development? do they believe it?
i doubt it.
so what is it? is it a weird echo of collegiality? a sort of verbal fig-leaf to hide behind when called out about the destructive effects of inter-university competition through metrics? is it some faint, semi-acknowledgement that metrics are actually not a great fit for HE?
interesting in any case - i might dig some more and see if this odd language crops up anywhere else in discussions of rankings - that don& #39;t rank... /END (for now)
