The Past, Present, and Future of University Rankings

Abstract

In this chapter, we provide the groundwork for the entire book. Although we do not discuss each topic in detail, the intention is to convey introductory information for readers about the topics to be covered by the various contributors. In the section dealing with university rankings in higher education contexts, we briefly review the development of ranking surveys and introduce the concept of organizational effectiveness, discuss the concepts of quality and quantity in higher education, and the mechanisms that are used to measure organizational effectiveness. In the metho­dology section, we introduce the reader to measures of institutional performance and related issues. In the section dealing with the impacts of ranking on society, we focus on the impacts of ranking surveys on higher education systems, individual institutions, students, and the side effects of ranking surveys. We close this chapter by discussing the future of ranking surveys.