“New” Rankings on the Scene: The U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems and U-Multirank

Abstract

In the last ten years, rankings of higher education institutions have been proliferating. Although there are many international rankings available, the major ones- such as those provided by ARWU, QS and THE-share several similar characteristics. Even if there are many beneficial effects of rankings on policy development, on the management of institutions and despite of being a “transparency tool” for other stakeholders, there is a criticism of rankings. Based on these criticisms, however, new rankings have been developed in the last couple of years: U-Multirank and U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems. In the paper it will be explored to what extent these rankings are able to overcome the problems of previous rankings, and also what strengths and shortcomings they have on methodological and conceptual level. Finally, attention is given to how rankings, ratings and classifications are embedded in the European Higher Education Area, and how the peculiarity of the European region influences the impact of the old and new rankings.