Despite limitations, university rankings are important in understanding and revealing institutional advantage and performance relative to counterparts. This is important in the context of competition for students, researchers, and funding. There are a number of mainstream rankings that focus on papers, citations, income, and student/staff ratios.
The focus of this session, however, will be on the relative newcomer to rankings, the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. The presentation will be based on my recent article for Campus Review, which is summarised on the AAIR website.
This ranking measures the contribution of universities around the world to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These 17 goals address areas such as poverty, inequality, climate change, energy, innovation, gender equity, resource management and peace, justice, and strong institutions. The Impact Rankings assess the extent to which universities contribute to these goals through research, community engagement, outreach, collaboration, and sustainable resource usage and management. There are quantitative and qualitative metrics to assess performance. This presentation will highlight the metrics that are used and how they are deployed to determine rankings.
The presentation will explore the performance of institutions globally and with respect to Australia. It will identify leading countries and institutions in their contribution to furthering the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Australia performs strongly relative to its size, and key reasons for this will be provided. The presentation will identify strengths and further areas of opportunity for improvement by Australia, and will conclude with a brief reflection on the future of rankings, including the Impact Rankings.
A discussion, including questions and answers, will follow at the conclusion of the presentation. We encourage you to engage in the conversation.
AwAAIRness Series
This will be an interactive session for AAIR members and their colleagues who are interested in engaging in a dialogue about university rankings.
If you and/or your colleagues are interested in participating in this AwAAIRness session, please register and we will send you a link to participate in the session.
Hosted by AAIR, convened by:
- Anand Kulkarni, Deputy Director, Planning and Performance at Victoria University, and valued AAIR member.
Pricing:
- Members: FREE
- Non-members (PER SESSION): AUD$10 + GST + booking fee (AUD$12.64)
- Not a member but want to be? Join here, then register for this vent for FREE!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
We look forward to e-meeting you in this AwAAIRness session!
