In the era of globalization, accountability, and benchmarking, university rankings have achieved a kind of iconic status. The major ones--the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU, or the "Shanghai rankings"), the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds Limited) World University Rankings, and the "Times Higher Education" World…

This article inquires into the "calculative practices" that are used to regulate quality in higher education. After providing a historical snapshot of the antecedents of quality regimes, I discuss university ranking systems (league tables) and the UK's Research Assessment Exercise. I ask two questions: first, what do the visibilities of…

In this article, the author argues that American higher education is allowing itself to be held hostage by the rankings industry, which can lead institutions to consider actions harmful to the public interest and encourage the public's infatuation with celebrity at the expense of substance. Instead of sitting quietly by during the upcoming ratings…

To assure program quality, an institution should choose its priorities--minimum achievements required, learning gains sought, content of learning emphasized, degree of rigor expected--and adopt a strategy for effective coordination of the efforts of the many persons who can contribute to each individual's learning. (Author/MLW)

The former president of Harvard University (Massachusetts) argues that college and university public relations specialists must attempt to understand what underlies the public's concerns about higher education, rather than simply to react to individual complaints. To reclaim public trust, higher education's leaders must consider carefully how they…

The concepts of "image" and "image management" in higher education are relatively new outcomes of an overall debate about accountability. Competition for faculty, students, and resources demands that colleges and universities promote their faculty's good work. Public support and trust are critical to funding and understanding…

The annual "U.S. News and World Report" "America's Best Colleges" issue has become the nation's de facto higher education accountability system, evaluating colleges and universities on a common scale and creating strong incentives for institutions to do things that raise their ratings. But, says the author, the "U.S. News" ranking system is deeply…

In an interview, Mernoy Harrison, the chairman of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) board of directors, discusses the issues he will address, the association's role in professional development, association image, the need to achieve more efficiency and productivity in college administration, and…

An institutional review of Evergreen State College that was undertaken by the Washington Council for Postsecondary Education is described. A review of a higher education institution by a state agency was unusual but was a compromise action by the 1977 state legislature, which also considered closing the college, whose institutional cost level was…