The game of rankings in a quality world university space

Abstract

The objective of this text is to proceed to an analysis of international classifications and their impact on two levels: a) their unexpected public success, and b) their decisive influence on higher education policy and strategy. We argue that defining quality assurance is crucial in order to legitimize choices about evaluation on a political and institutional level. In any case, it seems clear that rankings are a dubious construction but highly legitimized by the public and governments. So, under these circumstances, rankings are here and they will probably stay, together with the financial issues they create. Indeed, rankings are an interesting new global market product which universities seem to have to negotiate wisely.