Comparing apples and apples

Comparative consumer testing is making inroads in the academic world. Universities are being compared not only in terms of their research achievements but also in terms of their teaching quality.

There’s no way of avoiding these ranking lists. They influence the choice behaviour of students, researchers, teaching staff, social organizations and the business community alike. The higher up the list you are, the better your reputation, which, in turn, generates a sense of unity within the organization.

There are various types of rankings in academia. The best known are the global, university-wide lists such as the Shanghai Jiatong University Ranking and the Times Higher Education Supplement World Ranking of Universities. These lists focus on universities as a whole, which works to the advantage of the so-called "comprehensive universities" but to the disadvantage of specialized universities in the field of economics, law, social sciences and the humanities.
They compare apples and oranges. Moreover, the fruit basket is assessed in its entirety; this makes it difficult to pick out the juicy pears from the sour grapes and offers little in the way of insight into actual choice behaviour. Informing students that Tilburg University performs well across the board is all good and well but what they are really interested in is the quality and standard of the individual academic programmes they are considering taking.
We need more accurate and specific ranking lists tailored to individual disciplines. In recognition of this, Tilburg University has recently created an international rankings list of research institutes in the field of economics (see www.uvt.nl/econtop).