This paper examines the problem of modernization of the national education model, based on the program documents "Mangilik El" and "Rukhani Zhangyru," the project "New humanitarian knowledge: 100 new textbooks in the Kazakh language," "Daryn" programs, etc., aimed at the spiritual development of the nation.…

There is a comprehensive literature documenting how colleges' tuition, financial aid packages, and academic reputations influence students' application and enrollment decisions. Far less is known about how quality-of-life reputations and peer institutions' reputations affect these decisions. This article investigates these issues…

The outcome of university ranking is of much interest and concern to the many stakeholders, including university's sponsors, administrators, staff, current and prospective students, and the public. The results of rankings presented in the form of league tables, analogous to football league tables, attract more attention than do the processes by…

This paper examines why the development of a world class university system represents a rational, even inevitable, policy approach for Australia in response to world university rankings. It assembles evidence questioning the value of policies which direct undue emphasis on the concentration of resources and the development of elite universities,…

Rankings have an increasing impact on higher education. Regardless of their true ability to judge a university's success or failure, rankings are used by students, their families, and, increasingly, policy makers to define the quality of institutions. Rankings have gone beyond comparisons among universities within individual countries: Today, they…

College rankings present challenges and opportunities for higher education marketers. Statistical analysis of data on the national universities reveals which measures are associated with peer assessment scores, whether it is possible to influence the score, and what underlying factors are present. Marketers can use the findings to counsel senior…

Obsession with institutional image, encouraged by the yearly rankings published by a major national news magazine, has led many colleges and universities to use questionable statistics to bolster public relations efforts. Manipulative reporting goes beyond standardized test scores to include athlete graduation rates and any other image-enhancing…

Rankings of colleges and universities in the popular press have two problems: (1) they are gimmicks to sell publications; and (2) institutions have become pawns, juggling numbers in quest of higher rankings, the ethical equivalent of cheating. Higher education must return to truth, fairness, and honesty to regain its purpose and integrity. (MSE)

This study examined 68 Web sources selected by 19 second-language (L2) students while preparing to write research papers. Students submitted an annotated bibliography consisting of ten sources from print or electronic media. Each Web source was classified according to type (e.g., news or advocacy). Of the 68 sites, 29 were considered conventional,…

An analysis of ranking data, taken from "Maclean's" magazine's 2001 rankings of the 47 Canadian universities, is presented. Consistent with previous research, the rank data show that the specific measures and indices used by the magazine are inconsistently related to each other and to the universities' final assigned rankings. Some…

A 1994 "U.S. News and World Report" ranking of professional schools of social work is examined and compared with the findings of 8 other attempts to rank social work schools in the last 20 years. Results indicate that the assessment measures used were primarily faculty products (for example, articles published), and that the reputational…

The "U.S. News and World Report" rankings of colleges do not affect institutions equally; the schools impacted most are those that have the most to lose because they benefit from, even rely on, the rankings for prestige and visibility. The magazine relies on the rankings for substantial sales revenues, and has garnered considerable power…

Previous college department rankings based on the evaluations of others in the field are examined for their weaknesses, and the requirements of an adequate institutional ranking system are discussed. (MSE)

Development and application of the Educational Institution Image Instrument, designed to assess alumni perceptions of a higher education institution, is chronicled. Results showed it is a highly reliable scale containing five significant and interpretable subdimensions when applied to a random alumni sample. Implications for image measurement and…

While department and program quality rankings could be based on such factors as how well the faculty teach, advise students, and perform service roles, in practice most rankings measuring achievement in graduate departments have been based on faculty research performance of various kinds. (Author/MSE)