Should African Universities be worried about Global Rankings of universities?

About Global University Ranking Systems
Global rankings of universities are conducted by researchers annually using set criteria. The researchers subject individual universities to this criteria and then publish the results. The global rankings of universities are criticized by many – concerns are raised about the validity of the criteria used. There are numerous of these global ranking systems of universities and they include:

1. AcademicRanking of World Universities
2. RankingWeb of Universities
3. QSWorld University Rankings 
4. TheTimes Higher Education World University Rankings
5. This Wikipedia link contains a description of common global university ranking systems

Do university rankings matter?

Hazelkorn, E. (2008) agrees that global university ranking systems provide a methodology — even though the quality of the methodology is contested — by which institutions can benchmark their own performance and that of other institutions. Government and funding agencies are more likely to be drawn to support highly ranked universities. Students also use rankings to ‘shortlist’ universities of choice – rendering highly ranked universities more competitive. University ranking systems stimulate public debates about critical issues affecting universities. High-quality staff are more attracted to highly ranked institutions. High ranking provokes ‘more interest from other institutions’. Whether we agree or not - low ranking promotes ‘negative publicity’. Low rankings force institutions to be more accountable. University ranking systems have also been used as ‘policy instruments’ to strengthen and accelerate the speed of Higher Education reform.

African Efforts: benchmarking of quality in Higher Education Institutions

The African Quality RatingMechanism (AQRM) was developed by the African Union Commission. The indicators included: institutional governance; infrastructure; finance; teaching and learning policies; research; community engagement; programme planning; curriculum development; learning materials; teaching assessment; and programme assessment - All the criteria were qualitative. The results were based on the institutions’ self-assessment and there were over 32 respondents. The AQRM was found to be limited when compared to the institutional review methodology / accreditation used in implementing quality assurance. The University World News featured the pilot results from the AQRM in one of their articles.

Peter A. Okebukola wrote an excellent paper on An African Perspective on Ranking in Higher Education

RUFORUM Efforts: Core Program Areas contribute towards improving the performance of the member universities

The RUFORUM impact statement states that the network will measure its performance by assessing whether its member universities have become “high performing African universities that produce skilled, proactive graduates, demand driven research outputs and innovation in response to local, regional and national agricultural development priorities”. RUFORUM Core Program areas support universities’ to improve the quality of research, teaching and outreach – and this would hopefully contribute to our universities’ ranking improvement.

In 2011 the RUFORUM Network also produced the Quality Assurance Handbook for Strengthening Postgraduate Training and University Research in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.

Indicators used by RUFORUM to measure performance at Member University Level

• Evidence that agricultural faculties produce more relevant and user-oriented research
• Evidence that agricultural faculties produce proactive and skilled graduates
• The extent that member universities have  institutionalized enabling policies, principles and practices

Indicators used by RUFORUM to measure performance at the Wider Agricultural Network Level

• Evidence that RUFORUM universities are strong institutions that shape the agricultural sector in positive ways
• Evidence that RUFORUM alumni are proactive & dynamic change-makers in the agricultural sector

Why are universities in Africa ranked low on global scales?

Universities in Africa are ranked low on global scales because of their limited sensitization on global ranking systems in general and what they mean. Specifically African Universities have limited understanding of the indicators used by global ranking systems. They also lack of strategies to respond to global university rankings. African Universities could establish formal internal mechanisms to review institutional rankings and own institution's global position. Please see 2014 rankings of 46 RUFORUM Member Universities by the Ranking Web of Universities and also click here to see the Methodology that they use:

Name of RUFORUM University	2014 RUFORUM Rank	2014 Africa  Rank	2014 World Rank
Stellenbosch University	1	3	439
University of Pretoria	2	4	444
University of Nairobi	3	9	907
Makerere University	4	13	1134
Kenyatta University	5	22	1983
University of the Free State	6	23	1987
University of Zambia	7	32	2320
University of Namibia	8	34	2352
University of Zimbabwe	9	39	2562
Universidade Eduardo Mondlane	10	41	2667
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology	11	45	2826
Egerton University	12	49	3039
Université d'Abomey-Calavi	13	56	3194
University of Cape Coast	14	62	3393
Moi University	15	74	3780
Sokoine University of Agriculture	16	90	4221
University of Malawi	17		4435
University of Swaziland	18	99	4633
Université d'Antananarivo	19	116	5843
Mekelle University	20	126	6358
University of Port Harcourt	21	127	6361
Universidade Católica de Moçambique	22	145	7457
Gezira University	23	150	7557
Uganda Christian University	24	151	7591
University of Venda	25	154	7795
National University of Lesotho	26	162	8185
Uganda Martyrs University	27	175	8768
Africa University	28	186	8995
University of Rwanda	29	212	10028
Haramaya University (Alemaya)	30	225	10496
Kyambogo University	31	264	11527
Botswana College of Agriculture	32	287	12310
Gulu University	33	308	12714
Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science & Technology	34	375	13998
Université du Burundi	35	382	14131
Mzuzu University	36	384	14165
Copperbelt University	37	401	14461
Busitema University	38	535	16115
Ndejje University	39	672	17458
Kordofan University	40	703	17683
Eldoret University	41	709	17720
Université Catholique de Bukavu	42	923	19269
Lupane State University	43	Not Listed	Not Listed
Universite Evangelique en Afrique	44	Not Listed	Not Listed
John Garang University	45	Not Listed	Not Listed
University of Juba	46	Not Listed	Not Listed

What African universities can do to improve their rankings on global systems?

1. Improve their online presence and visibility by establishing and monitoring their web sites and social media platforms. There must be dedicated staff to support these platforms and keep them updated.
2. Reconsider their web policies and promote increased volume & quality of electronic publications.
3. Set up knowledge  Repositories & prioritize digitization of publications, theses, manuscripts
4. Put profiles of their academic staff online.
5. Configure websites better- ensure indexing with global databases and bibliographic databases
6. Uplift University Research and Outreach by establishing an institutional research office to collect data, monitor performance, present own data better in public or other official realms, and benchmark performance.
7. Track staff publications
8. Prioritize e-learning to improve Teaching and Learning. Share teaching content as open educational resources

Conclusions

It seems that the world is obsessed with rankings in every walk of life - whether or not universities agree with the various ranking systems is irrelevant – ranking systems are here to stay (Salmi, J. et al:2007). There are reservations that university rankings are effective indicators of institutional quality. The ranking methodologies need to be grounded both theoretically and empirically, comprehensive and accepted by all stakeholders. It is important for African University leaders to learn how these ranking systems work and to provide frameworks for those doing the rankings so that they improve. The Wikipedia link highlighting global university ranking systems is clearly missing a ranking system originating in Africa. There is a great opportunity for African Universities to develop their own ranking system that they would use to rank themselves.

References

1. Okebukola, P., (2011) Nigerian Universities and World Ranking: Issues, Strategies and Forward Planning. Presented at the 2011 Conference of Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities
2. Hazelkorn, E., (2008) Learning to Live with League Tables and Ranking: The Experience of Institutional Leaders [online] Higher Education Policy (2008) 21, 193–215. doi:10.1057/hep.2008.1 Accessed 23 November 2012
3. Bokova,I., (2011) UNESCO Global Forum Rankings and Accountability in Higher Education: Uses and Misuses. [online] Available at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001924/192417m.pdf
4. Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012/reputation-ranking/analysis
5. Academic Ranking of World Universities 2012.  http://www.shanghairanking.com/index.html
6. Ranking Web of Universities. http://www.webometrics.info/en/Methodology
7. RUFORUM Secretariat, 2011. Quality Assurance Mechanism and Credit Accumulation and Transfer System: A handbook for Strengthening  Postgraduate Training and University Research in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), Kampala.
8. Salmi, J. and Saroyan, A., (2007) The World Bank,League Tables as Policy Instruments: Uses and Misuses. Higher Education Management and Policy, Volume 19, No. 2