• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

2007 THES Rankings (1 Viewer)

Triangulum

Dignitatis Contentio
Joined
Nov 13, 2005
Messages
2,084
Gender
Male
HSC
2006
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/macquarie-uni-falls-in-list/2007/11/08/1194329413250.html
AUSTRALIAN universities have slipped in one of the most respected world rankings. The most dramatic drop was suffered by Macquarie University - jeopardising a $100,000 bonus for its vice-chancellor, Steven Schwartz.

His bonus depends on improving Macquarie University's ranking in the Australian sector, but it has plummeted from 82 to 168 in the Times Higher Education Supplement's annual survey, released in Britain overnight. It has dropped from seventh to ninth among local universities.
So a note to those people who think university rankings have any sort of meaning: they don't. There is no way that a university can drop 86 places in one year, it just doesn't happen. The THES methodology is clearly massively flawed, and I don't understand why the Times bothers with it at all.
 

xoa

Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Messages
78
Gender
Male
HSC
2002
The methodology is deeply biased against universities in non-English speaking nations. I think it especially inflates Australia's ranking.
 

So-net

Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2006
Messages
45
Location
Gordon, Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2003
回覆: Re: 2007 THES Rankings

xoa said:
The methodology is deeply biased against universities in non-English speaking nations. I think it especially inflates Australia's ranking.
Australia is English speaking nation, but I think there are some adjustment for the methodology for this ranking....

moreover focus on this part....it doesn't look bias against non-English speaking nation.... Lolzzzz..... Look at Standford....

Rank
17 University of Tokyo
18 University of Hong Kong
19 Stanford University
 

xoa

Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Messages
78
Gender
Male
HSC
2002
Re: 回覆: Re: 2007 THES Rankings

So-net said:
Australia is English speaking nation, but I think there are some adjustment for the methodology for this ranking....

moreover focus on this part....it doesn't look bias against non-English speaking nation.... Lolzzzz..... Look at Standford....

Rank
17 University of Tokyo
18 University of Hong Kong
19 Stanford University
I was surprised by the low ranking of Stanford, especially with it being lower than UChicgo and ANU.

There are plenty of Asian universities which are infinitely better resourced, more selective, and which produce more hard research than the ANU and other Go8 unis. They fare poorly because they are less likely to be cited in English language journals, or be highly regarded by their English speaking peers. They don't spam the world's media with advertisements either, which would limit name recognition.

Australia's "best" universities attract Asia's intellectual rejects - we're a place for rich parents to hide their little disappointments. It's a delusion to think these surveys prove otherwise.
 

RogueAcademic

Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2007
Messages
859
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
I was reading in the paper that the methodology has changed this year, with universities in non-English speaking countries (Europe, mostly) more readily recognised for research conducted in languages other than English. An academic was quoted as saying English is the language of choice in the research field around the world, implying that the new method of methodology isn't entirely fair.
 

Triangulum

Dignitatis Contentio
Joined
Nov 13, 2005
Messages
2,084
Gender
Male
HSC
2006
RogueAcademic said:
An academic was quoted as saying English is the language of choice in the research field around the world, implying that the new method of methodology isn't entirely fair.
Languages vary a bit from field to field, though. For example, a lot of archaeological research is published in French, German or Hebrew.
 

RogueAcademic

Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2007
Messages
859
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Triangulum said:
Languages vary a bit from field to field, though. For example, a lot of archaeological research is published in French, German or Hebrew.
I'm not the one you need to convince.

By the way I found the article:

""One such change is the switch from the well-known ESI Thomson research publication database to Scopus, a database less well known in Australia but popular in Europe," he said in a statement. "Scopus includes sources in languages other than English, even though such research would be less accessible. In the global academic world, English remains the international language of research.""

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/victorias-unis-slide-in-ranking/2007/11/08/1194329414546.html
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top