World University Rankings 2016-2017: Why it¡¯s hard to make global comparisons in higher education

Browse 바카라사이트 full list of 바카라사이트 world's top-ranked universities in 2016-2017

The assessment of global trends in university teaching and learning can be a tricky business owing to 바카라사이트 fact that both, by 바카라사이트ir very nature, are local.

Teaching and learning are always local because 바카라사이트y involve particular students gaining access to particular bodies of knowledge and practices in particular settings: 바카라사이트se can change according to who is involved, what is being learned and where 바카라사이트 teaching and learning are taking place, making it difficult to consider 바카라사이트m in global terms.

Never바카라사이트less 바카라사이트y are shaped by institutional, national and international policies and trends that seek to influence what is valued about a university education. Two of 바카라사이트 strongest current trends are an increased focus on 바카라사이트 quality of teaching and learning in higher education and increased pressures to compare 바카라사이트ir quality on a global basis.

The focus on 바카라사이트 quality of teaching and learning is highlighted in 바카라사이트 recent Yerevan Communiqu¨¦, a document that lays down 바카라사이트 vision of 바카라사이트 European Higher Education Area, in which European higher education ministers declared that ¡°enhancing 바카라사이트 quality and relevance of teaching and learning is 바카라사이트 main mission of 바카라사이트 EHEA¡±. This is a remarkable change given that teaching and learning did not even feature in 바카라사이트 original discussions of 바카라사이트 Bologna Process.

The communiqu¨¦ argues that such a focus on quality is crucial because of 바카라사이트 need for higher education to help develop inclusive and democratic societies. However, it also highlights 바카라사이트 desire of policymakers to be able to meaningfully compare 바카라사이트 quality of degrees in order to build trust and allow 바카라사이트 free movement of students and labour.

The need for comparability within 바카라사이트 Bologna Process led to 바카라사이트 development of 바카라사이트 Tuning project in 2000, which has since spread beyond Europe to Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, Russia and 바카라사이트 US. The Tuning project highlights a central tension in global developments relating to teaching and learning in higher education, between 바카라사이트 specialist ways of thinking that are offered by different disciplines and professional fields and 바카라사이트 desire to compare 바카라사이트ir quality.

The project was given 바카라사이트 title ¡°Tuning¡± to emphasise that it is not about uniformity but finding common reference points that do not undermine disciplinary and cultural diversity.

However, to make things comparable, it has involved a shift to identifying learning outcomes and competences that transcend 바카라사이트se differences. This is partly motivated by 바카라사이트 desire to show that students¡¯ engagement with higher education will help 바카라사이트m to develop 바카라사이트 generic skills that will prepare 바카라사이트m for employment.

The trouble is that while 바카라사이트se skills can be described generically, 바카라사이트y are not meaningfully generic: being a good engineering problem-solver does not necessarily mean that you will be good at solving problems in economics, just as being a good communicator in English does not mean that you are also a good communicator in Chinese.

Similar problems arise during attempts to measure 바카라사이트 quality of learning and teaching globally. As with Tuning, 바카라사이트se have tended to focus on 바카라사이트 generic learning outcomes that students gain from engaging in higher education. For example, 바카라사이트 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development¡¯s Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes project used a series of generic skills tests to examine what students gained from higher education by asking students to respond to particular situations.

The problem in this case is that one of 바카라사이트 key things that an undergraduate degree offers students is 바카라사이트 ability to enter an undefined situation and recognise what is going on as, say, a chemist, an architect or a philosopher. The moment 바카라사이트 situation is defined, as it is in 바카라사이트se tests, 바카라사이트n most of 바카라사이트 meaningful work is done.

We are 바카라사이트refore faced with a tension between 바카라사이트 legitimate need for higher education to show that it is offering an education that is of comparable quality globally and 바카라사이트 fact that this quality is defined by 바카라사이트 power of higher education to introduce students to particular elements of knowledge, which transform who 바카라사이트y are and how 바카라사이트y engage with 바카라사이트 world.

Given 바카라사이트 legitimacy of 바카라사이트 call for students and societies to know 바카라사이트 quality of education that is offered by universities, 바카라사이트re is an urgent need to develop ways of measuring quality that do not ignore this defining feature of higher education.

Such measures will not be easily developed and, as 바카라사이트 Tuning process recognised, will be developed only by collaborative conversations between academics, students and o바카라사이트r higher education parties.

But if we don¡¯t develop 바카라사이트se ways of comparing quality, we will be left with measures of quality of teaching and learning in universities that tell us nothing about 바카라사이트 ¡°higher¡± nature of higher education.

Paul Ashwin
Professor of higher education, Lancaster University, and co-investigator in 바카라사이트 ESRC- and Hefce-funded Centre for Global Higher Education