Rankings drop ‘a wake-up call’ for universities
Although a new measurement in the Times Higher Education rankings published today places Ireland sixth in the world — ahead of the United States and other “academic giants” — for the number of universities in the top 200 relative to national wealth, the dropping reputation of individual colleges will be the biggest talking point.
The list of 400 top world universities is headed by California Institute of Technology, which has knocked Harvard off the Number 1 slot it held for eight years.
The Irish placings are as follows:
* Trinity College Dublin is 117th (down from 76th)
* University College Dublin falls from 94th in 2010 to 159th
* University College Cork is ranked between 301 and 350 (243rd last year)
* NUI Galway (299th in 2010) is in 351-400 band.
* NUI Maynooth is also ranked between 351 and 400.
Dublin City University and Dublin Institute of Technology have dropped out, from 313th and 347th, respectively, a year ago. In comparison with other European universities, the slippage is not as stark, with TCD down from 14th to 16th and UCD from 26th to 28th.
Times Higher Education (THE) compiles the rankings based on 13 indicators gathered independently by Thomson Reuters, more than any of the other global university comparisons.
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) described the fall of Irish colleges, in what are considered the most comprehensive rankings, as a wake-up call for the country’s third level sector.
“Whatever the reasons for our dramatic rankings falls, today’s report should sweep away the last vestiges of complacency. The status quo is no longer good enough and the system requires reform,” said HEA chief executive Tom Boland.
Many of these reforms — including closer links between funding and delivery of key targets — are already being undertaken by the HEA. But it is also finalising a major report for Education Minister Ruairí Quinn, outlining the funding needs of higher education — either from Government or other sources including student fees — to keep pace with competitor countries and meet third level student number targets.
Although ratios of students to staff account for fewer than 5% of marks awarded to each university, the impact of increased intakes and falling academic numbers due to staffing restrictions are still seen as a significant factor.
TCD provost Dr Patrick Prendergast said a fall in its ranking was expected given those considerations, yet the university was found to have rising levels of internationalisation and got a record-high score for the impact of its research.
“A world class university requires financing at internationally competitive levels. For Trinity to sustain its position and increase further in global rankings requires adequate investment in the university sector,” he said.
THE World University Rankings editor Phil Baty said having so many world-class universities is fantastic for the size of our economy, as we are well ahead of the US, Canada and Germany in that regard.
*Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-2012: http://bit.ly/thewur
