Thread by @jeroenbosman

Utrecht University @UniUtrecht in the Netherlands has withdrawn itself from the World University ranking @THEworldunirank provided by @timeshighered. As this has generated quite some reactions - praise, questions, some doubts, I want to provide some context. Hence a thread 🧵1/16

2/16 Our removal from the ranking is a direct effect of not providing data anymore. Only universities that provide data are listed. The main reasons - apart from cost/time investment of providing data - are misalignment the ranking's values with ours: uu.nl/en/organisatio…

3/16 This means that the main reasons to withdraw are the ranking's focus on competition where we want collaboration but also the (in my view harmful) simplification and methodologically questionable practices of university rankings uu.nl/en/news/why-uu…

4/16 It is important to note that our critique of ranking regards all university rankings, not just that of THE. They are all severely lacking, as shown by research from the INORS @INORMS_REWG work on rethinking rankings inorms.net/rethinking-glo…
doi.org/10.29024/sar.31

5/16 Some non-commercial ranking providers try to do a better job in terms of rigour and measuring what matters: The Leiden Ranking and U-Multirank @UMultirank. The Leiden Ranking also announced a bold move to a ranking based entirely on open data leidenmadtrics.nl/articles/the-c…

6/16 However, this still leaves fundamental critique of rankings and their usage. INORMS @INORMS_REWG provided criteria for responsible ranking that are often based on more widely accepted charters and principles inorms.net/wp-content/upl…

7/16 At Utrecht University, moving away from rankings has been coming for many years. But while thinking and building some consensus develops gradually, concrete steps lag a few years and are more ad hoc and stepwise, though always fitting our vision. So far we took 7 steps.

8/16 Moving away from impact factors in research(er) assessment by signing DORA and publicly announce stopping their use fits our recognition and rewards transition , with detail in the FAQ. sfdora.org
doi.org/10.1038/d41586…
uu.nl/en/research/op…

9/16 We added some general contextualisation to our rankings page. As you see, this is not radical at all, but a necessary starting point. And yes, we still provide prospective students and researchers with info on our ranking position (not there yet ;-)) uu.nl/en/organisatio…

10/16 Together with now >600 institutions we signed the COARA @CoARAssessment Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment, committing to action. It includes a commitment on ranking. coara.eu
coara.eu/app/uploads/20…

11/16 A report for UNL (Dutch uni assoc) @tweetsunl includes a strategy to move away from rankings w/ actions on various aspects/levels, with a reaction from UNL on their priorities in implementing this. Such national alignment is great but no requirement. universiteitenvannederland.nl/en_GB/f_c_rank…

12/16 Hope this helps others (esp. at high ranked uni's) rethink university ranking and take some action, But also have the big discussions around assessment, open science and equity, including effects of (neo)colonialism in ranking. @t_nassiri @dcmccoy11 collections.unu.edu/eserv/UNU:9082…

13/16 Because as I sometimes say, Utrecht's ranking is that of Bandung, Amsterdam's ranking is that of Paramaribo.... I am not the only one thelancet.com/journals/lance…

14/16 Much of the culture change needed is not only among researchers and institutional boards, but especially in institutional research, communication and marketing departments. Their practices and jobs will change because of it, so include them in the difficult discussions.

15/16 And if you want to do in depth reading there is the book by Colin Diver and Michelle Stack's collection and that of Ellen Hazelkorn press.jhu.edu/books/title/12…
utorontopress.com/9781487523398/…
routledge.com/Global-Ranking…

16/16 Finally, if you want to hear more knowlegeable voices on this, check @LizzieGadd and especially also @jelena3121 e.g. with her doi.org/10.1093/reseva…

17/17 PS, it is interesting that @UniUtrecht not only disappeared from the 2024 ranking because we stopped supplying data, but was also delisted from all earlier editions. For those years, Utrecht data are only visible when you search on Utrecht.

18/18 PS I forgot to detail our action to sign INORM's MTOR More Than Our Rank initiative. It signals our position visibly and shows that we are accountable, but also that we do not like to be alone in this. This is a classical collective problem inorms.net/more-than-our-…

19/19 PS My personal stance is that I think the onus is first on privileged, rich, big, Global North institutions that have been profiting big time from Matthew effects of their (ranking) position for many years.

20/20 PS If you reply, retweet or otherwise boost these messages, please consider tagging your institution or people in its leadership, if you would feel comfortable doing that. It might set things in motion.

21/21 PS the English language version of the expert group report for the Dutch universities association @tweetsunl is here: universiteitenvannederland.nl/files/document…

English language version is here: universiteitenvannederland.nl/files/document…