POLAND: Academic ranking group formed

Intense interest in university and faculty rankings around the world has resulted in the establishment of an international observatory on academic ranking and excellence. Described by its founders as a "partnership of rankings practitioners and academic analysts of rankings", the aim is to develop a way of making the now-numerous rankings of universities and their departments credible.

Formation of the observatory follows the creation of an International Ranking Expert Group in Washington, DC, four years ago with the backing of the Institute for Higher Education Policy and the Unesco-European Centre for Higher Education. The organisers say the IREG has become an internationally recognised platform "for dialogue on various aspects of ranking in higher education".

The idea of continuing the group's work in a more structured format was initially discussed at an IREG meeting at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China last October. A proposal to form an observatory received the support of participants representing major national and international academic rankings and leading analysts.

The legal location of the IREG-Observatory is in the Polish capital of Warsaw, in facilities provided by the city and with temporary secretarial assistance supplied by the Perspektywy Education Foundation.

In a statement released by the observatory last week, organisers said it would review the conduct of 'academic ranking' and expressions of 'academic excellence' for the benefit of higher education stake-holders and the general public.

"This objective will be achieved by way of:
* improving the standards, theory and practice in line with recommendations formulated in the Berlin Principles on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions [adopted in 2006];

* initiating research and training related to ranking excellence;

* analysing the impact of ranking on access, recruitment trends and practices;

*analysing the role of ranking on institutional behaviour;

* enhancing public awareness and understanding of academic work."

The Berlin principles were the outcome of a three-year process that included most of the leading ranking organisations - including The Times Higher Education, US News & World Report and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, as well as academic leaders and others with expertise in the field.

The 16 principles focus on good practice that will be useful for the improvement and evaluation of ranking systems over time. They emphasise the purposes and goals of rankings, the design and weighting of indicators, the collection and processing of data and the presentation of ranking results.

The aim of the observatory is to review the broader context and conduct of academic ranking as well as expressions of 'academic excellence' for the benefit of higher education, its stake-holders and the general public.

The statement said the observatory would assist ranking bodies by providing them with assessments of their standards and practices, "and the degree to which they were congruent with the Berlin principles - a 16-point list of good practice in academic rankings". Groups producing rankings in accordance with the principles will be entitled to declare that they are "IREG Recognised".

"In view of rapidly increasing interests in academic rankings and increasing number of national and international rankings, the observatory would serve the community by way of playing a clearinghouse function with the help of website and publishing a quarterly e-newsletter," the statement said.

"Academic ranking and various forms of 'expressing and acknowledging academic excellence' sit, foremost, at the intersection of three sets of issues: accountability and transparency (what gets measured); quality measurement issues (how to measure it); and universities, competitiveness and the market (how data gets portrayed and used)."

For more information, visit the IREG-Observatory website at: www.ireg-observatory.org