Month: October 2008

      

 

 

Quote “ In the 2008 university rankings recently released

by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES)

and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the University of

the Philippines rose from 398 in 2007 to 276 this

year. Ateneo de Manila University rose from

401-500 to 254. De La Salle University was ranked

415th and the University of Santo Tomas was ranked

470th.

 

        Quote”This is the third year that such a survey has

been conducted and its results given prominence

by local dailies. But according to UP Vice

President for Public Affairs Cristina Pantoja

Hidalgo, UP has never agreed to participate in

this survey. In fact, this year, President

Emerlinda R. Roman did not even receive an

invitation to be a part of it. Nor did she

receive any questionnaire to answer.

 

        Quote”What she did receive was an email message from QS

Asia Regional Director (Asia Pacific), Mandy Mok,

informing her that UP had “gone up in the

rankings” for 2008. The email also contained an

invitation to buy “an attractive package” from

THES-QS. The “package price,” which includes a

banner on top universities.com, a full page full

color ad in Top Universities Guide 2009, and a

booth at Top Universities Fair 2009, amounts to

$48,930.

 

        Quote”Since UP was not invited to participate and

therefore had not provided any data, UP officials

do not know where and how the figures were

obtained on which the ranking was based, Hidalgo

said.

 

        Quote” “UP can hardly be expected to spend more than 2

million pesos on publicity for itself involving a

survey conducted by an organization that refuses

to divulge where it obtains its data,” she added.

 

        Quote”In 2007, UP was invited to participate in the

survey, but when THES-QS refused to explain where

it obtained the data used to determine UP’s rank

in the 2006 survey, university officials decided

not to accept the invitation to be part of the

2007 survey. In 2006, UP was ranked No. 299, and

Ateneo was ranked No. 500.

 

        Quote”UP wrote THES-QS in July 2007, informing them of

UP’s decision not to be a part of the survey; and

again in September 2007, requesting the

organization to respect UP’s decision. In

response, research assistant Saad Shabir wrote

back saying that if it did not receive the

information it would be “forced to use last

year’s data or some form of average.”

 

        Quote”Surveys and rankings obviously have their

usefulness. But, as the National

University—status officially granted to it with

its new Charter on its centennial year—UP feels

that before it agrees to participate in such an

exercise, it must carefully examine the indices

by which it is to be evaluated. It also needs to

be convinced about the reliability of the

methodology used in the exercised.

 

        Quote”The THES-QS ranking is supposedly meant to serve

as “the definitive guide to universities around

the world which truly excel.” In evaluating

institutions it computes half of the index based

on its reputation as perceived by academics (peer

review 40%) and global employers (recruiter review

10%). Since it does not specify who are surveyed

or what questions are asked, the methodology is

problematic.

 

        Quote”In an earlier statement released in August this

year, and carried by several national dailies, UP

said: “Even peers require standardized input data

to review. But according to the International

Ranking Systems for Universities and

Institutions: A Critical Appraisal, published by

BioMed Central, the Times simply asks 190,000

‘experts’ to list what they regard as the top 30

universities in their field of expertise without

providing input data on any performance

indicators

(http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/5/30).

Moreover, the survey response rate among selected

experts was found to be below 1%. In other words,

on the basis of possible selection biases alone,

the validity of the measurement is shaky.” (See

Pano, “Only Two RP Unviersities Made It…” UP

Newsletter, August 2007, p. 5.)

 

        Quote”According to the statement, the other half of the

index is based on such indicators as student-to

faculty ratio, the number of foreign faculty and

foreign students in the university, and the

number of citations in internationally accredited

publications. “Data for these indicators depend on

the information that participating institutions

submit. An institution’s index may be easily

distorted if it fails to submit data for the

pertinent indicators, or if it chooses not to

participate.”” Closed-quote.

 

Sergio S. Cao, PhD

Professor of Finance

College of Business Administration

University of the Philippines

Diliman, Quezon City

Philippines 1101

Telephone: (632)-9284571

Telefax:   (632)-9297991