> Social Issues - on 26/10/2009

Toward Which European University Ranking ? Benchmark Study of Shanghai Ranking and Other International Rankings

On the occasion of its Meeting conference of October 22nd, 2009 and ten days before the publication of the Academic Ranking of World Universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Thomas More institute publishes its Benchmarking Note N°4. Available in French only.

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On the eve of the 7th publication of the Shanghai University Ranking, the best know, most feared and controversial of international university rankings, the Thomas More Institute devotes a new study to the project, launched by Valérie Pécresse during the French Presidency of the European Union during the second semester of 2008, of building a university ranking specifically European.

First built as a true ranking, the culture of consensus, typical from Brussels, transformed the project into a mapping of universities – a useful project but not likely to foster performance and reform within the European university system.

The aim of the Benchmarking note is to shed lights on existing ranking, their strengths and their weaknesses, through clear and precise information, and to draw lessons from these elements to make the European project as efficient and operational as possible.

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Download below the Note in PDF (in French, 14 pages).

pdf Document