What do global university rankings really measure? The search for the X factor and the X entity

Vicente Safón ()
Additional contact information
Vicente Safón: University of Valencia

Scientometrics, 2013, vol. 97, issue 2, No 6, 223-244

Abstract: Abstract Most academic rankings attempt to measure the quality of university education and research. However, previous studies that examine the most influential rankings conclude that the variables they use could be an epiphenomenon of an X factor that has little to do with quality. The aim of this study is to investigate the existence of this hidden factor or profile in the two most influential global university rankings in the world: the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) of the University of Shanghai Jiao Tong, and the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking. Results support the existence of an underlying entity profile, characterized by institutions normally from the US that enjoy a high reputation. Results also support the idea that rankings lack the capacity to assess university quality in all its complexity, and two strategies are suggested in relation to the vicious circle created between institutional reputation and rankings.

Keywords: Rankings; Reputation; Universities; Factor analysis; Multivariate regression; 62J05; 91C15; 97B99 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L14 L25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-013-0986-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:scient:v:97:y:2013:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-013-0986-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11192

DOI: 10.1007/s11192-013-0986-8

Access Statistics for this article

Scientometrics is currently edited by Wolfgang Glänzel

More articles in Scientometrics from Springer, Akadémiai Kiadó
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().