Ranking the World


Book Description

This book examines the origins of the rise of international rankings, assessing their impact on global governance, and exploring how governments react to being ranked.




Ranking the World


Book Description

Over the last decade, international rankings have emerged as a critical tool used by international actors engaged in global governance. State practices and performance are now judged by a number of high-profile indices, including assessments of their levels of corruption, quality of democracy, creditworthiness, media freedom, and business environment. However, these rankings always carry value judgments, methodological choices, and implicit political agendas. This volume expertly addresses the important analytical, normative, and policy issues associated with the contemporary practice of 'grading states'. The chapters explore how rankings affect our perceptions of state performance, how states react to being ranked, why some rankings exert more global influence than others, and how states have come to strategize and respond to these public judgments. The book also critically examines how treating state rankings like popular consumer choice indices may actually lead policymakers to internalize questionable normative assumptions and lead to poorer, not improved, public policy outcomes.




Rankings and the Reshaping of Higher Education


Book Description

University rankings have gained popularity around the world and are now a significant factor shaping reputation. This second edition updates Ellen Hazelkorn's first comprehensive study of rankings from a global perspective, drawing in new original research and extensive analysis. It is essential reading for policymakers, managers and scholars.




Global University Rankings and the Politics of Knowledge


Book Description

Analysing rankings in diverse higher education settings, this book draws on discourse analysis, theory, ethnography, and case studies, to consider the question of how knowledge is produced and shared.




World Literacy


Book Description

International literacy assessments have provided ample data for ranking nations, charting growth, and casting blame. Summarizing the findings of these assessments, which afford a useful vantage from which to view world literacy as it evolves, this book examines literate behavior worldwide, in terms of both the ability of populations from a wide variety of nations to read and the practice of literate behavior in those nations. Drawing on The World’s Most Literate Nations, author Jack Miller’s internationally released study, emerging trends in world literacy and their relationships to political, economic, and social factors are explored. Literacy, and in particular the practice of literate behaviors, is used as a lens through which to view countries’ economic development, gender equality, resource utilization, and ethnic discrimination. Above all, this book is about trajectories. It begins with historical contexts, described in terms of support for literate cultures. Based on a variety of data sources, these trends are traced to the present and then projected ahead. The literate futures of nations are discussed and how these relate to their economic and sociocultural development. This book is unique in providing a broader perspective on an intractable problem, a vantage point that offers useful insights to inform policy, and in bringing together an array of relevant data sources not typically associated with literacy status.




Global Rankings and the Geopolitics of Higher Education


Book Description

Global rankings and the Geopolitics of Higher Education is an examination of the impact and influence that university rankings have had on higher education, policy and public opinion in recent years. Bringing together some of the most informed authorities on this very complex issue, this edited collection of specially commissioned chapters examines the changes affecting higher education and the implications for society and the economy. Split into four interrelated sections, this book covers: The development of rankings in higher education, how they have impacted upon both the production of knowledge and its geography, and their influence in shaping policymaking. Overviews of the significance of rankings for higher education systems in Europe, Asia, Africa, Russia, South America, India and North America. An analysis of rankings in relation to key concerns that pervade contemporary higher education. Examination of the role rankings are likely to play in the future directions for higher education. This is a significant scholarly work that analyses in depth an important development in higher education systems, and which is likely to have an important influence upon how we understand the higher education policy-making process – past, present and future. It provides new analysis and conceptual understanding for researchers, and firm evidence for policy makers to use when addressing the value of rankings in measuring the quality of their institutions. Besides bringing together a powerful cast of academics, this book incorporates contributions from heads of important international higher education organisations – from both those involved in making and also in administering key decisions. This timely, reflective and accessible book forms crucial reading for those studying the subject of rankings, as well as the broader implications and unintended consequences of rankings on national higher education policies. Extending beyond academic researchers and students, this book will also be of significant interest to policymakers, higher education leaders and key stakeholders.




Ranking


Book Description

Ranking of people, schools, products, countries, and just about everything else is part of our daily lives. But we are in a paradoxical relationship with ranking: we believe that ranking is good because it is informative and objective; and we believe ranking is bad because it is biased and subjective, and occasionally, even manipulated. Ranking: The Unwritten Rules of the Social Game We All Play combines the application of scientific theories to everyday experience with entertaining personal stories.




Building World-Class Universities


Book Description

Within higher education, world-class universities are commonly regarded as elite research universities and play a critical role in developing a nation’s competitiveness in the global knowledge economy. An increasing number of countries, regions and higher education institutions in different parts of the world have joined the same battle for academic excellence. While emerging countries and their universities make every effort to enhance their capacity and boost their research performance, the academic superpowers endeavour to maintain - if not further improve- their global positions. “Building World-Class Universities: Different Approaches to a Shared Goal” intends to provide an in-depth picture of different approaches in pursuit of the shared goal of developing academic excellence, and to reflect the current trends in this field. Divided into three parts, the book covers: • building world-class universities from a national/regional perspective, • managing world-class universities from an institutional perspective, and • measuring world-class universities from a ranking/indicator perspective. This book not only represents a contribution to the ongoing discussion on the topic of building world-class universities, but can be seen as a continuation of the previous three volumes on this topic - “World-Class Universities and Ranking: Aiming beyond Status”, “The World-Class University as Part of a New Higher Education Paradigm: From Institutional Qualities to Systemic Excellence”, and “Paths to a World-Class University: Lessons from Practices and Experiences”. All four books will be useful readings for students and academics in higher education generally, in addition to policy makers and informed practioners.d practitioners




National and International Rank of the United States & The World's Best Practitioners of Divinatory Arts


Book Description

National and International Rank of the United States & The World's Best Practitioners of Divinatory Arts. Based upon the results of the New York 6th International Vote. Published by Times Square Press New York. From the contents: A quick guide to recommended lightworkers's charges. This is how much some of the best practitioners charge. Charge for 1 hour. Charge for 45 minutes. Charge for 30 minutes. Charge for 20 minutes. Charge for 15 minutes. Charge for 10 minutes. Flat Charge per question. United States best and most recommended mediums and psychics: Rank, profile, services, contact.




The World's Worst Problems


Book Description

This book addresses the worst problems currently facing humanity and those that may pose future threats. The problems are explained and approached through a scientific lens, and categorized based on data involving global mortality, vulnerability, and threat level. The book presents indices of problem severity to compare relative intensity of current and potential crises. The approach avoids emotional argument using mainly empirical evidence to support the classification of relative problem severity. The author discusses multiple global problems and ranks them. He also explores specific solutions to each problem, links problems to human behavior from a social science perspective, considers international cooperation, and finally pathways to solutions. The book discusses confirmation bias and why this necessitates a scientific approach to tackle problems. The moral assumption that each person has the same rights to life and minimal suffering, and that the natural world has a right to exist, forms the basis of ranking problems based on death, suffering, and harm to the natural world. A focus is given to potential disasters such as asteroid collisions and super-volcanic eruptions, which are then presented in chapters that address specific contemporary global issues including disease, hunger, nuclear weapons and climate change. Furthermore the author then ranks the problems based on an index of problem severity, considering what other people think the worst problems are. The relative economic costs to solve each of these problems, individual behavior in the face of these problems, how people could work together internationally to combat them, and a general pathway toward solutions form the basis of the final chapters. This work will appeal to a wide range of readers, students considering how they can help the world, and scientists and policy makers interested in global problem solving./div