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…

"A World of Private Higher Education" is the definitive treatment of a sector accounting for a third of the world's 200 million higher education enrolment--yet remaining largely unknown even to scholars of higher education and widely mis-characterized when it is considered by stakeholders or the general public. Beyond the eye-popping…

This dissertation examines the perceptions of parents who open enroll their children in an alternative public school by diving into the lived experiences of these individuals. The research is grounded in three theoretical frameworks: Parent Involvement Theory (McCurdy and Daro, 2001), Rational Choice Theory (Adler et al., 2014), and Market Theory…

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…

This paper examines the mechanisms through which higher education institutions (HEIs) explore, focusing on organizational status and institutional logic. We hypothesize that the exploration mechanisms differ depending on the public and private sectors. Revisiting middle-status conformity, we assert that the U-shaped relationship is stronger for…

Attracting prospective students could be difficult and expensive. Candidates, when choosing a future school for their studies, consider a great number of factors. Information from official university websites does not suffice to persuade. Word of mouth plays a significant role, among others. The aim of this paper is to present findings about…

Amid concerns about creating internationally recognized world-class universities in China, this study aims to explore the factors that influence the selection of two prestigious universities in China, namely Tsinghua and Beida, by high school students. In light of concerns surrounding the establishment of globally renowned universities in China,…

Climbing the ladder of institutional prestige is often promoted by leaders and policymakers in higher education, but there may be trade-offs associated with striving for status. This study examines the impact of Texas's National Research University Fund (NRUF), which uses financial incentives to support institutions' pursuit of prestige, on the…

Synthesizers of evidence are increasingly likely to encounter studies published in predatory journals during the evidence synthesis process. The evidence synthesis discipline is uniquely positioned to encounter novel concerns associated with predatory journals. The objective of this research was to explore the attitudes, opinions, and experiences…

To promote university patent transfer (UPT) and technology diffusion, the Chinese government has implemented a series of economic incentives. One such incentive involves increasing the share rate of faculty inventors from 20% to 50%. We investigate whether such sharing arrangements are effective in encouraging patent disclosure by faculty…

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of academic digital archives on scholarship and university status. Digital archives have played roles in strengthening scholarly research and developing innovative fields of study. This is especially prevalent in the rise of digital humanities and making work available through digital libraries and…

Purpose: The rapid adoption of social media has resulted in a fundamental shift in the way communication and collaboration take place. While social media is recognized as an important marketing communication tool, it has become overlooked how social media marketing activities (user-generated and firm-generated content) influence brand equity…

This paper explores the legitimation of Finnish education export (EE) activities linked to higher education institutions. As a small non-English speaking country with only recent involvement in the EE market, Finland provides an underexplored context to consider the legitimation of overseas, fee-based educational services from the perspective of…

The study is aimed at contributing to the research of developing the employer brand of a university with the help of a special university project. Our basic research question is whether a Jubilee project could be used to develop the employer brand of a university and strengthen employee engagement. The authors present the possibilities of…