The ranking of international universities collapsed?

"The scandal has always happened, and this ranking system is extremely abnormal."

Last fall, the most influential U.S.NEWS University in the United States ranked the latest in the latest in American universities. The Ivy League and the world's top private research university Columbia University ranked second in the United States, setting the best results in the school for decades.

However, this quickly caused the school's mathematical professor Michael Sadis. Five months later, he published a 21 -page long article that pointed directly at the big data of "inaccurate, suspicious or highly misleading." On June 30, Gorno announced the withdrawal of the new year and reviewed the data.

Over the years, in addition to the frequent "data errors", U.S.NEWS ranking itself has also been criticized by some American scholars, and believes that it emphasizes the wealth and fame of the school too much. QS, Thames, and Softcock, which are the same as U.S.NEWS, have also been questioned as "not fair enough".

In this regard, Chang Song, writer and educational observers of the observer network, believes that these institutions are generally recognized in general, but there are never official standards for university rankings in the world. Even authoritative institutions must be "listened to".

Some time ago, 985 universities of the three China of the National People's Congress, NTU, and Lamada successively announced their withdrawal from the ranking of the world university. Chang Song believes that this may be affected by the "five only" policy orientation. If the university rushes blindly, it will be lost on the road of water and indicators.

In his opinion, the dilute ranking does not mean completely ignoring the ranking. However, if you withdrawn from the ranking of international universities, you will start to "roll" China's own university ranking. This is to change the soup without changing the medicine.

According to Xu Kaibin, a special professor of Lujia scholars in Wuhan University, if Chinese universities want to establish their own evaluation standards, some good aspects of the United States can learn from, such as teacher -student ratio, alumni donation rates, etc. Not suitable for copying.

Columbia University Library Source: Visual China

Data were questioned, and Brother retired

According to the latest American "News and World Report" magazine in the United States (U.S.NEWS) released in September 2021, Columbia University is second only to Princeton University and is second to Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Compared with the 18th place in the U.S.NEWS ranking in 1988, it has improved significantly.

U.S.News is one of the most authoritative university ranking institutions in the United States and even the world. Compared with Thames, QS, Soft Sciences and other rankings that were born after 2000, U.S.News had been "admitted" as early as 1983.

For a long time, U.S.NEWS ranking has been regarded by American parents and students as a benchmark. "Economist" quoted the research of Harvard Business School and the American University Council, pointed out that the number of students in the U.S.NEWS ranking will decrease by 1%.

But about this, Michael Thaddeus, a professor of mathematics, asked: "Compared with those universities that objectively have some advantages, we have performed so well in ranking. Go? "

U.S.NEWS 2022 American university ranking (part)

With questions, he studied various indicators that can decide the university ranking.

At present, U.S.NEWS's ranking standards for American universities include 9 major items:

Graduation rate and non -transfer rate (22%)

Undergraduate academic reputation (20%)

Teacher (20%)

Graduation rate performance (8%)

Social liquidity (5%)

Each student's financial resources (10%)

Student selectivity (quality of students, 7%)

Alumni donation rate (3%)

Graduate debt status (5%)

Among them, in addition to the undergraduate academic reputation, one is based on peer evaluation. The remaining 80%of the data needs to be collected and provided by the rankings.

In February this year, Michael Thaddeus published a 21 -page article on his website. After investigating the data submitted to Columbia University to investigate U.S.NEWS, he concluded that "inaccurate, suspicious or highly misleading."

In February of this year, Sadis published 21 pages of long texts questioning the school's data

For example, in the U.S.NEWS US university rankings, the weight of the undergraduate class (classification of teachers) is 8%. According to data provided by Columbia University, 82.5%of the number of undergraduate students in the university is less than 20, and only 8.9%of the class students are more than 50 or more.

Sadis pointed out that the school is unwilling to provide the calculation method of this data. He concluded by checking a large amount of curriculum information that the school actually only has 62.7%-66.9%of the number of undergraduates less than 20; and the students are in the students; 50 or more classes account for about 10.6%-12.4%. These data are far from the numbers claimed by the school.

Sadis pointed out that in a report submitted to the US Department of Education, Grandson said that his teaching expenditure in the 2019-2020 school year exceeded $ 3.1 billion, which was larger than Harvard, Yale and Princeton's amount.

However, after consulting the financial statements, Sadis found that the $ 1.2 billion of these $ 1.2 billion was the "patient care fee" of the Copa Hospital. At other universities such as New York University, patients' care costs were not included in teaching expenditures. In addition, Sadis questioned a number of data such as the proportion of terminal degree teachers in the field, the proportion of full -time teachers, and the graduation rate of student graduation.

Professor Sadis, a professor of mathematics at Columbia University

On June 30, local time, the day before the deadline for data submission, Mary Boyce, the dean of Columbia University, said that the school leaders would take these data issues seriously, and after Sadis asked questions, it has been questioned. "Immediately began to review our data collection and submission process." In view of this work, the school will not submit data for the ranking to U.S.NEWS this year.

Boyz pointed out that the school will closely review the relevant procedures according to the issues raised by Sadis. This review is related to integrity, and the school will not seek shortcuts.

"The scandal has always happened", why is people still keen on university rankings?

At the beginning of the long article released by Sadis in February, Colin Diver, former dean of the University of Pennsylvania, questioned U.S.NEWS's ranking::

"The ranking of the operation of the manipulating data and the distortion system provides a strong motivation. The only or main purpose of which is to exaggerate its score. Because the ranking is seriously dependent on the unveiled and reported data, there is no way to ensure the accuracy of the information of the information. Or the reliability of the ranking result. "

Colin Dove served as the president of the Rido College of Oregon from 2002 to 2012. This is a well -known school of private liberal arts and sciences. Apple's alma mater, the co -founder of Apple, the founder of Steve Jobs, and the earliest American universities to refuse to participate in U.S.NEWS rankings.

Former Dean of the University of Pennsylvania, the former president of the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, the former president of the Ledi College of Oregon

After a series of data scandals in a series of colleges and universities, the University of Led College began to refuse to participate in the ranking of U.S.NEWS University (but still included in the ranking) in 1995, and was therefore "punished" by U.S.NEWS -reduced. In the 1990s, the St. John College of Maryland, who had withdrawn from Ride in the same period, re -submitted data to U.S.NEWS in 2014, jumped from 123 to 56 in the previous year.

In recent years, US universities have provided error data to U.S.News.

In 2012, Clemont McKenner College, a well-known liberal arts college in California, acknowledged that in the past six years, he submitted a false entry score to U.S.News, with an average score of 10-20 points.

In the same year, George Washington University raised 20%in the top 10%of the top 10%of the high school classes due to exaggeration, and was eliminated by U.S.News from the best university ranking in 2013.

In 2019, 5 U.S. universities including the University of California, Berkeley, Skllipus College, and North Carolina University Pengbrook were also removed from the U.S.News American university rankings of the year because of errors.

In April 2021, Moshe Porat, former dean of the Fox Business School of Tiantu University, was suspected of using false data to improve the college's curriculum ranking. The U.S. prosecutors sued for fraud. Prate was sentenced to one year or two months in March this year.

Report on the Porat case in the U.S. Department of Justice

In February of this year, U.S.News listed 49 American universities that have been temporarily removed from the rankings since 2018. These schools took the initiative to report their mistakes to U.S.NEWS afterwards.

According to the U.S.NEWS website, the agency collects data directly from the school every year, and the school needs to send a senior academic official to sign to confirm the data accurate; if it is not signed, the school can also enter the ranking, but it will be marked. What U.S.News does is compared with the new data provided by the school with the data of third -party data, the data of the school in the past few years, and the data of other schools to evaluate the authenticity of the new data.

"Forbes" magazine website published on July 4th, bluntly that no one believed that those universities that were captured were "the only culprit". The article wrote that no one knows how many problems with suspicious or tampering with data. "Most institutions do not have the motivation to dig deep into the way the school reports data to find out whether they may cheat."

"The scandal has always happened," Sadis said on July 1, some people and schools were accused of manipulating data, "this (ranking) system is extremely abnormal."

Sadis also questioned the university ranking itself, thinking that it was too difficult to reduce the complexity of academic institutions "compared with one place with another place". " The greatness of the world.

Even if it is U.S.News University of Princeton, the University of U.S.News, the president of Christopher L. Eisgruber also pointed out last year that the university ranking will lead to "destructive inspiration", and some universities may be in U.S.NEWS Get a good ranking and avoid doing some difficult but valuable things, such as admission to students with talented but low -income. Is Grubu believes that the university ranking is a "slightly stupid obsession. When universities, parents or students see it too seriously, it will cause damage."

Talking about the recent data issues of Columbia University, Dava said that he was glad to see the school initiated for review, but he also hoped to see the school inviting law firm or accounting firm for third -party independent review.

"I hope to see schools like Columbia University who have a real status and popularity," Do you know? These rankings are casual, they are anti -wisdom, they do not meet our academic values, we will no longer reconcile They cooperated, "Diffe said.

In April of this year, Diffei's new book "Breaking Ranking: How Ranking the Ranking Industry Rule Higher Education and how to deal with it" was published "

Although the U.S.NEWS ranking is controversial, its status has been strong for many years.

The Washington Post pointed out in an article in March this year that a few years ago, the National Science Research Commission (NRC) tried to rank universities in another multi -dimensional way, allowing people to choose a certain factor Weight to adjust the ranking. But people still prefer simple and clear answers: What is better than? Where should I go?

The author of the article and Professor Jordan Ellenberg, a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin, pointed out that the simple and clear answer can make people satisfy for a period of time, but when they replace the healthier cognition and choice, it is dangerous It's right. The purpose of higher education is exactly the desire for simple and clear answers.

In the view of Xu Kaibin, a specially appointed professor at Wuhan University, Wuhan University, U.S.News, as the most recognized university ranking in the United States, has left some schools' false data issues. From the perspective of its ranking standards for American universities, it is still more scientific.

For example, the scale of the class can reflect the degree of small class, and the small class will help teachers and students to fully communicate and stimulate students' creativity; and U.S.News statistics from the donation of graduates is not the total amount, but to see the donation rate. This is even more. Can reflect students' satisfaction with schools. In addition, U.S.NEWS has a very detailed ranking of American universities. In addition to undergraduate rankings, there are also graduate school rankings categorized according to subjects.

Not only in the United States, the rankings of world universities such as U.S.NEWS have also been sought after in China.

Chang Song, writer and educational observer of the observer network column, believes: "As long as candidates still look at the popularity of the middle school when choosing a school, there is a classification of 'double first -class' when the employer recruits. When the government introduces talents It is impossible to really look at the ranking of the university. "

However, he said that if the "only theory of names" is rushed to the list blindly, it will lose the road of water and indicators, and ignore the important part of the educating people itself. "The purpose of running a school in Chinese universities is not to rush rankings. It is the first priority for Chinese education. Like Indian Science and Technology, high school students immigrate to universities in the United States. China does not need it."

On June 27, 2021, Peking University attracted many parents and tourists to check in the source: Visual China

"China wants to build its own university evaluation system, but cannot be closed to lock the country"

Since 2014, U.S.NEWS has launched the ranking of the World University (standards and the rankings of the United States). The Academic Ranking (ARWU) of the World University of Softcock (ARWU) is currently a more influential global university ranking system.

The standards of these four rankings are different. U.S.NEWS World University Ranking pays more attention to academic research and literature citations (totaling 60%); QS ranking pays more attention to school reputation (totaling 50%in total); Thame ; Soft Department focuses more on the quality and scientific research results (totaling 80%).

In addition to the ranking of objective indicators and third -party data, U.S.NEWS, QS, and Thames rankings include subjective components involving the reputation of the school, and also needed data to provide data by themselves.

2023 QS World University ranked top 10 list

In recent years, these world authoritative rankings have been questioned more or less in terms of standards.

Former Deputy President of the University of Macau and the first principal of Hong Kong Hang Seng University, He Shunwen wrote in Hong Kong media in 2015, pointed out that the reputation survey had prejudice and misleading. reason. Interviewees will also prefer to individual colleges, especially their alma mater.

He Shunwen believes that Thames and QS also do not pay attention to the value -added factors such as curriculum and teaching quality, students' learning and growth. The number of thesis is calculated only in English; the "international teacher ratio" is particularly favorable for Hong Kong and Singapore colleges that have been relying on less local doctors and long -term relying on international recruitment. Inside. Xu Kaibin also believes that the QS world ranking will be more biased towards countries or regions under the Commonwealth Education system.

As for the academic rankings of the Soft Science World University, because the objective quantification indicators are only stable, the ranking is relatively stable, but it emphasizes the achievements of science and engineering and scientific research, and ignores humanities and social sciences.

Soft Sciences will receive the number of teachers of the Nobel Prize and Phils Award, and publish the number of publications such as "Nature"/"Science" as the ranking indicator

Xu Kaibin said that in fact, other universities in the world have a tendency to focus on the sciences. "The standards of science and engineering in the world are relatively uniform, and the standards of liberal arts will be very different. The English papers published by domestic scientists internationally are compared. few."

In this case, some parts of Chinese universities in China will naturally "suffer" in the world ranking. Taking Renmin University as an example, one of the best universities in China has been lined up by QS to 600, and it is obviously unable to fully show the true strength of the People's Congress.

Chang Song said that the ranking of the world university has never been official standards, and it is the ranking of various educational institutions, and the main indicators of each ranking institution are determined by the value of the agency and the meta -cognitive decision. They will inevitably cause doubts.

"The rankings of various universities are just a reference. Even the world's authority rankings, when the outside world is looking at them, they must listen to it." Chang Song said.

Some time ago, 985 universities of Renmin University, Lanzhou University, and Nanjing University have successively announced their withdrawal ranking of universities in the world.

Chang Song believes that the withdrawal ranking of these universities may be under the influence of the "five only" (only scores, enlightenment, diploma, only theory, and hat) policy orientation.

On June 14, the Ministry of Education once again emphasized that it resolutely eliminated the "five uniforms" and resolutely did not follow the various popular rankings to run schools. Promoting the "double first -class" construction must take root in the land of China and solve the problem of China.

Chang Song pointed out that the decoration ranking is not ignored and "pulling black" rankings. In fact, in the newly released QS World University rankings in June this year, the above three universities are still listed. This shows that the school only does not provide data to the institution, not completely disappearing in the ranking.

"This is actually the logic that 'both wants and'. It is necessary to fade the role of the command stick of the ranking indicators, but also face up to the ranking of the quality of the school's school running. University evaluation mechanism with Chinese characteristics. "

"China wants to build its own college evaluation system, but it cannot be closed. It must be open. Teachers and students must be open. First -class universities in any country in the world are not successful in closed -door." Chang Song said.

In his opinion, he withdrew from the ranking of international universities, and then began to "roll" the university ranking of China himself. "The key is not anyone who engages in the ranking of university, but to establish a scientific outlook on schooling and establish a university evaluation standards suitable for Chinese national conditions." Chang Song believes that if China must build its own system, we must officially carry out guidance and strengthen regulatory supervision. " Otherwise, it must be a group of magic dance. "

Xu Kaibin believes that if Chinese universities want to establish their own evaluation standards, some good aspects of U.S.NEWS can learn from, such as teachers and students, alumni donation rates, subdivided professional rankings, etc. Suitable for copying.

Xu Kaibin said that undergraduates participating in academic activities and doing research can also be used as an indicator. "I also know the innovative projects of some undergraduates at Wuhan University. These projects are spontaneous from students. I think this is a very important indicator. Stimulate undergraduates to participate in research. "

"Excellent universities are different excellences." Chu Chaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Education and Science, wrote in the Xinhua News Agency in June this year. He said: "When a school plays a unique and key role in human history Its ranking is naturally scheduled. Only by adhering to your own positioning and adherence to your mission can you run your own school. "

Source: Observer.com/Wang Kaiwen

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