16 september 2006
Wageningen UR makes it to the Newsweek top 100
Rankings of universities are in fashion. The official citation counters, the gatekeepers of impact measures, abhor this practice. University managers however love these lists, especially when their rankings are favourable. It polishes their esteem, and in the next encounter with their rival rectors of other universities they can impress them with their results. I even have visions of monkey’s on a rock.
Newsweek recently cooked up yet another ranking. They took some ingredients from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings, added a few ingredients from the Times Higher Education Supplement rankings and added the number of library holdings (number of volumes).
Well this last measure, we will put to good use of course when we need to make cuts on our library spending. It is a rather odd measures though. Volumes or records in the library catalogue? But anyway the ranking is there, and we will no doubt get questions about it.
Our University came in on the 61st place. Well below Utrecht (51) but before Leiden (83) and Amsterdam (89). There were no other Dutch Universities in Newsweek’s list.
The rector will be happy.
Hattip: Steven Bell
Literature
van Raan, A.F.J. (2005). Challenges in Ranking of Universities. First International Conference on World Class Universities, Shanghai Jaio Tong University, Shanghai, June 16-18, 2005. http://www.cwts.nl/cwts/AvR-ShanghaiConf.pdf.
Technorati tags: university rankings
Newsweek recently cooked up yet another ranking. They took some ingredients from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings, added a few ingredients from the Times Higher Education Supplement rankings and added the number of library holdings (number of volumes).
Well this last measure, we will put to good use of course when we need to make cuts on our library spending. It is a rather odd measures though. Volumes or records in the library catalogue? But anyway the ranking is there, and we will no doubt get questions about it.
Our University came in on the 61st place. Well below Utrecht (51) but before Leiden (83) and Amsterdam (89). There were no other Dutch Universities in Newsweek’s list.
The rector will be happy.
Hattip: Steven Bell
Literature
van Raan, A.F.J. (2005). Challenges in Ranking of Universities. First International Conference on World Class Universities, Shanghai Jaio Tong University, Shanghai, June 16-18, 2005. http://www.cwts.nl/cwts/AvR-ShanghaiConf.pdf.
Technorati tags: university rankings
