05 oktober 2006
THES university rankings 2006
The ranking of universities in the world is an important arena. The Times Higher Education Supplement, THES, has been an acknowledged player in this field since 2004. Today THES presented it's university rankings for 2006. Seven Dutch universities were included in the top 100. Top of the Dutch pops is Eindhoven, ranked 67 up from 70 in 2005. Followed by UvA which dropped from 58 to 69, Delft dropped even more, from 53 to 86, Leiden that came in from 138 to 90, Rotterdam which dropped considerably from 57 to 92, Utrecht which increased from 120 to 95 and Wageningen UR who came in at 97th from 108 in 2005.
Seven Dutch universities in the THES top 100 is not bad at all. Similar to Australia, but after the USA and England. Am I amazed?
The best university in the world, according to the Times, is Harvard. Interesting is this quote "Harvard, whose endowment of $26 billion (£13.8 billion) exceeds total annual funding for all British universities". A total budget that will turn the eyeballs backwards and forwards a few times of all presidents of Dutch universities. Even the minister of Education will go gaga over the zero’s in these spendings. Not her normally duty these kind of figures.
Of course I should point to the serious criticism of van Raan (2005) on these kind of rankings, which I did with the Newsweek ranking of August already.
The THES ranking is interesting though, because it is based for 50% on ‘peer judgement’. A total of 3,703 academics worldwide, were asked to identify up to 30 universities best for research within their own field of expertise. The other 50% percent is based on graduate employers from around the world, as well as the ratio of faculty to student numbers and a university’s success in attracting foreign students and internationally renowned academics.
That Eindhoven is leading the Dutch pack shouldn’t come as a surprise. An early indication of the Eindhoven quality was already implied by a CWTS report for research quality in Europe.
Rankings, rankings and rankings. They are only rankings, but. They do play an important role though. The best universities in the world are competing in a global arena to attract students. This arena has become more and more international, each an every day. The prospective students will read these lists as well, and it is therefore important to be listed in these rankings. Levin, the president of Yale has worded this very eloquently in a Newsweek article.
Technorati tags: university rankings; THES;
Seven Dutch universities in the THES top 100 is not bad at all. Similar to Australia, but after the USA and England. Am I amazed?
The best university in the world, according to the Times, is Harvard. Interesting is this quote "Harvard, whose endowment of $26 billion (£13.8 billion) exceeds total annual funding for all British universities". A total budget that will turn the eyeballs backwards and forwards a few times of all presidents of Dutch universities. Even the minister of Education will go gaga over the zero’s in these spendings. Not her normally duty these kind of figures.
Of course I should point to the serious criticism of van Raan (2005) on these kind of rankings, which I did with the Newsweek ranking of August already.
The THES ranking is interesting though, because it is based for 50% on ‘peer judgement’. A total of 3,703 academics worldwide, were asked to identify up to 30 universities best for research within their own field of expertise. The other 50% percent is based on graduate employers from around the world, as well as the ratio of faculty to student numbers and a university’s success in attracting foreign students and internationally renowned academics.
That Eindhoven is leading the Dutch pack shouldn’t come as a surprise. An early indication of the Eindhoven quality was already implied by a CWTS report for research quality in Europe.
Rankings, rankings and rankings. They are only rankings, but. They do play an important role though. The best universities in the world are competing in a global arena to attract students. This arena has become more and more international, each an every day. The prospective students will read these lists as well, and it is therefore important to be listed in these rankings. Levin, the president of Yale has worded this very eloquently in a Newsweek article.
Technorati tags: university rankings; THES;
Labels: English
