Universities Jump in world Rankings

[seabhcan]

Some surprises to me:

Holland with a population of 16.5 million and 11 top flight institutions! Who knew?

Britain is more than holding it's own.

Scandanavians are very well represented.

USA is not nearly as impressive when looked at in population terms. If one were to allocate points to the rankings and work it out that way they could have a better showing however.

Some disappointments:

Italy and Spain. Very poor showings.

Germany surprised me. I thought it would have been higher.

Several european countries carry out research in state funded research institutions which are not universities. The Max Planck institution in Germany is top notch for physics, for example. These institutions are not put on this list.

[gatsbygirl20]

The Irish Times (in an article entitled "College Rankings Place UCD in Top 100") attributes the jump to Hugh Brady's "pro-business and modernizing agenda" which has had "a huge influence across the sector".

The nonsensical obsession with "rankings" and "listening to business" which has infected so much of our daily discourse will destroy what used to be called education. Putting business whizz-kids in charge of universities will turn them into neither good businesses nor proper universities. The entire focus has of course shifted away from the Humanities or any independent thought-system which might be at risk of interrogating the "listening to business" orthodoxies of our new market-led "world-class universities". Arts students are herded into huge undifferentiated lectures, with a labyrinthine "elective" and "option" system to keep them scurrying about aimlessly, and dipping superficially into 6 week taster classes, all in the name of "choice".

Heads of Faculties (or "Schools", as I think our Yankified Hugh now calls them) must stop being boring academics , get with the "pro-business" programme, draw large salaries, and START FUNDRAISING.
Although how research on, say, GM crops, which is being funded by, say, Montsanto, can be anything other than a worrying development for education escapes me .
Our corporate masters, not content with bringing the world economy to its knees, want to own and delimit the very processes by which we seek out and define knowledge and question received truths.

We all want to attract jobs. But universities must tread a careful path between their original academic remit and the needs of the corporate state, which, of course, seeks to drive all before it. Dr Brady is excited about UCD's ranking because such rankings "are cited as one of the top ten reasons why multinational companies choose a region in which to invest" .
Indeed. Who pays the piper calls the tune.

[Sailor]

[quote=Sam Lord;2176907][QUOTE=seabhcan;2176585]This list is a measure of how universities attract foreign students, not how good the universities are.

Not sure where you got that from.

I ranked the list by population in a quick and dirty calculation ... just to see who was punching above their weight.

So in terms of top 200 institutions per head of population the country ranking looks like:

01. Switzerland
02. Hong Kong
New Zealand
03. Holland
04. Sweden
Denmark
05. Belgium
06. UK
07. Germany
Singapore
Norway
Israel
08. Ireland09. Canada
10. Finland
11. USA
12. Austria
13. Germany
14. Greece
15. South Korea
16. France
17. Taiwan
18. Malaysia
19. Spain
20.. South Africa
21. Italy
22. Thiland
23. Russia
24. Mexico
25. Japan
26. China
27. India

Ireland is doing very well.

Some surprises to me:

Holland with a population of 16.5 million and 11 top flight institutions! Who knew?

Britain is more than holding it's own.

Scandanavians are very well represented.

USA is not nearly as impressive when looked at in population terms. If one were to allocate points to the rankings and work it out that way they could have a better showing however.

Some disappointments:

Italy and Spain. Very poor showings.

Germany surprised me. I thought it would have been higher.

Hate to be picky about these things - but this list places Ireland in 13th place

[odie1kanobe]

According to the University Presidents, one of the things we have been doing for years now is ... cutting!!

Here's one of their pronouncements from 2004.

[I]STATE support for universities was cut in real terms by €1,240 per student between 1995 and 2001. The situation deteriorated further over the past two years with cutbacks of the order of 14.5pc, according to the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU).

Let him state what the actual level of funding was in 1995 and 2001 as claiming its a cut in real terms is bogus when you have undertaken a massive expansion in numbers.

IF you double the size of the undergraduate population you do not double the size of the University staffing as your admin / facilities and lecturing staff will not double in size.

Its a way of attempting to show a decline when it hasn't occurred.

[bananarepublic.ie]

[quote=Sailor;2177086][quote=Sam Lord;2176907]

This list is a measure of how universities attract foreign students, not how good the universities are.

Hate to be picky about these things - but this list places Ireland in 13th place

Nope its 8th, example

07. Germany
Singapore
Norway
Israel

means all countries are equal weightings in ranks.

[Sailor]

[quote=bananarepublic.ie;2177105][quote=Sailor;2177086]

Nope its 8th, example
means all countries are equal weightings in ranks.

If you have 12 countries ahead of you, then you are 13th

[odie1kanobe]

[quote=Sailor;2177114][quote=bananarepublic.ie;2177105]

If you have 12 countries ahead of you, then you are 13th

Correct because you Golf as an analogy if there is one winner and 11 joint runner ups the person immediately after them is not in 3rd place but 13th place.

[dmc444]

Congrats on the universities rising up through the tables.

However, We should not think that all is fine and dandy in our Universities.

Our Degrees need serious reform in order to adapt them to the modern world, For example we need to focus on giving students experience in the real world of work.

[greenwithirony]

[quote=Sam Lord;2176907][QUOTE=seabhcan;2176585]This list is a measure of how universities attract foreign students, not how good the universities are.

Not sure where you got that from.

I ranked the list by population in a quick and dirty calculation ... just to see who was punching above their weight.

So in terms of top 200 institutions per head of population the country ranking looks like:

01. Switzerland
02. Hong Kong
New Zealand
03. Holland
04. Sweden
Denmark
05. Belgium
06. UK
07. Germany
Singapore
Norway
Israel
08. Ireland
09. Canada
10. Finland
11. USA
12. Austria
13. Germany
14. Greece
15. South Korea
16. France
17. Taiwan
18. Malaysia
19. Spain
20.. South Africa
21. Italy
22. Thiland
23. Russia
24. Mexico
25. Japan
26. China
27. India

Ireland is doing very well.

Some surprises to me:

Holland with a population of 16.5 million and 11 top flight institutions! Who knew?

Britain is more than holding it's own.

Scandanavians are very well represented.

USA is not nearly as impressive when looked at in population terms. If one were to allocate points to the rankings and work it out that way they could have a better showing however.

Some disappointments:

Italy and Spain. Very poor showings.

Germany surprised me. I thought it would have been higher.

But this list is not really representative of just how skewed the Times list is. I mean, 4 of the top 10, 7 of the top 30 are in the UK. The highest ranked French one is 28, the highest ranked German uni is 55!!! Looking at the Times list would make one wonder, surely, how these countries could hold a candle to the UK economically, technologically, or culturally?!?!

Ludicrous.

[Sam Lord]

[quote=Sailor;2177114][quote=bananarepublic.ie;2177105]

If you have 12 countries ahead of you, then you are 13th

Even 13th I would have considered pretty decent ... particularly given the status of some of the countries lower than us.