AUSTRALIA: League tables 'inevitable'

Research policy experts believe the federal government's proposal to measure academic research performance will result in unofficial university rankings, despite the exercise being designed to prevent this occurring, reports The Australian Higher Education. But research commentators are also closing ranks in support of the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) programme in the face of intense criticism from disgruntled academics.

While successful universities use rankings for marketing, academics slate most of them as subjective and even dangerous.

Australian Research Council chief executive Margaret Sheil said that not only had the Council been asked not to produce a rankings scheme under its ERA programme, but the exercise would be designed to prevent them. There was no history of these research performance exercises being fed into the most highly regarded university ranking by Shanghai University, or the most high-profile ranking by Times Higher Education.
Full report on The Australian site