This study documented the associations and variability of four prestige metrics for kinesiology-related journals. Four prestige metrics for the year 2022 were collected from three database services for 334 kinesiology-related journals. The prestige measures were highly skewed and had large variability, with medical journals having the highest…

Education-UK and British private schools more specifically are often framed as a global brand of 'world-class' quality. However, the increased competition within the international education market has meant British private schools cannot rest on their laurels but instead must continue to project their 'world-classness' in a way that does not…

Purpose: This paper aims to examine whether the position of universities in the times higher education (THE) impact rankings (IR) is related to the different dimensions of academic quality of universities according to the THE world universities ranking. Design/methodology/approach: The research, based on universities ranked in the top 100 of THE…

Purpose: Nowadays, universities increasingly consider reputation as a key component for improving quality and rankings. A positive reputation opens doors to added value and diverse opportunities. This paper aims to explore Middle Eastern higher education managers' perceptions of university reputation components. Design/methodology/approach: Given…

Studies of global university rankings often assume that rankings as Anglo-American policy scripts have an increasing influence resulting in a convergence of policies and practices, or that the ideas of rankings continue to diverge into national types. In this article, we take a middle ground by arguing that when an idea of ranking is grounded in a…

Quality of universities is best viewed through the eyes of stakeholders. Yet, in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, rankings conducted by various agencies purport to provide one overall measure of university quality. This article re-examines some of the data used by university rankers. In so doing, it shows that their information can be repackaged…

We offer a Cultural Studies approach--a transdisciplinary field of study critically examining contemporary culture--to illuminate the roles of cultural producers and consumers in mediating the meaning of university rankings amidst a global media landscape. Using the case study of Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and drawing on the concepts of: (1)…

Prospective students and their families use college rankings to navigate their higher education options. Rising tuition and fees have made the college decision more fraught. Recently, the major college ranking providers have revised their methodologies to reflect costs and other considerations. These revisions raise important questions about the…

Whereas a growing number of studies evidence that research quality notions and evaluative practices are field- and context-specific, many focus on single evaluative practices or moments. This paper introduces the concept of "quality landscape" to capture dynamics of interrelated quality notions, evaluative moments and practices in a…

Since the launch of the double world-class (DWC) project in 2015, China has entered into a new stage of building world-class universities. What makes China give up the existing projects for a new one? Towards the end of its first five-year cycle, has the version 2.0 of building world-class universities in China achieved the desired results? This…

Policy discussions related to higher education in sub-Saharan Africa often include concerns related to quality. Rather than being an abstract characteristic, quality of higher education is the result of a series of actions and practices, and yet there is limited research on the practices associated with quality in higher education in Africa. This…

It is a general understanding that higher education has characteristics of an "experience good" because the quality cannot be determined before receiving the service, which induces information asymmetry. In response to reducing the asymmetry, external assessment tools like international accreditations have emerged in higher education,…

This article examines the unique situation of New Jersey Public Schools being ranked the best in the nation while simultaneously being ranked the worst in the nation for inclusion of students with disabilities. An examination of the legal and theoretical underpinnings of inclusion is presented, followed by a review of current research in general…

The article examines the global university reputation race, launched in 2003. Between 2003 and 2010, there appeared a cluster of publications on the qualitative comparative analysis of their methodologies, and since 2010, a cluster of publications on the quantitative comparative analysis of university rankings has started to form. The review made…

"U.S. News and World Report's" "Best Law Schools" dominate the conversation on quality in legal education. Despite their popularity, the criteria used to rank schools often has little to do with the quality of the educational experience. If rankings are intended to demonstrate quality, then these measures should be related with…