This paper is about globalization in higher education and how "globalism" is playing a role in stimulating university transformation around the world. The authors' specific focus is on international university ranking lists. Such lists are being given increasingly more space and attention in the mass media and by governments as well as by…

The construction of transnational and national systems for comparing qualities of universities are presented and discussed. In focus are two important university ranking lists--those produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and by the "Times Higher Education Supplement". A Swedish example concerning the making of a resource…