[Commlist] Global University Rankings and the Politics of Knowledge - Open Access Edited Book

Members of the listserv might be interested in an open access edited 
book that engages with issues of media and mediatization.

Global University Rankings and the Politics of Knowledge (Open Access 
Book) <http://hdl.handle.net/2429/78483>

For many institutions, to ignore your university’s ranking is to become 
invisible, a risky proposition in a competitive search for funding. But 
rankings tell us little if anything about the education, scholarship, or 
engagement with communities offered by a university. Drawing on a range 
of research and inquiry-based methods, /Global University Rankings and 
the Politics of Knowledge/ exposes how universities became servants to 
the education industry and its impact.

Conceptually unique in its scope, /Global University Rankings and the 
Politics of Knowledge/ addresses the lack of empirical research behind 
university and journal ranking systems. Chapters from internationally 
recognized scholars in decolonial studies provide readers with robust 
frameworks to understand the intersections of coloniality and 
Indigeneity and how they play out in higher education. Contributions 
from diverse geographical and disciplinary contexts explore the 
political economy of rankings within the contexts of the Global North 
and South, and examine alternatives to media-driven rankings. This book 
allows readers to consider the intersections of power and knowledge 
within the wider contexts of politics, culture, and the economy, to 
explore how assumptions about gender, social class, sexuality, and race 
underpin the meanings attached to rankings, and to imagine a future that 
confronts and challenges cognitive, environmental, and social injustice.

Reviews

"In this well-crafted volume, Michelle Stack has assembled a team of 
writers who provide a nuanced analysis of the politics of university 
rankings which have a bearing on funding, jobs, the survival of 
programs, and the marketability of universities. It also addresses 
important work such as university–community engagement. In its 
comprehensiveness, this book is an eye-opener. "

*Peter Mayo, Professor of Arts, Open Communities, and Adult Education, 
University of Malta, and author of Higher Education in a Globalising 
World: Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning*

"This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of 
rankings by moving the conversation goalposts beyond the methodological 
issues that have dominated the literature and commentary heretofore. 
Instead, and from an international perspective, the authors offer the 
reader a much deeper analysis about how knowledge is produced, measured, 
and used – and the implications this has for higher education, the 
academic community, and research. The interplay between these different 
elements underpins the geopolitics of knowledge production and political 
power."

*Ellen Hazelkorn, Joint Editor, Policy Reviews in Higher Education, and 
Professor Emerita, Technological University Dublin*

"Insightfully critical and nuanced, this important collection explores 
the far-reaching implications and impact of the global university 
rankings industry. Contributors note that rankings are not simply the 
‘new normal’ of higher education; they are dramatically transforming the 
enterprise that they purport to measure."

*Glen A. Jones, Professor of Higher Education and Dean of the Ontario 
Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto*

It can also be purchased through the University of Toronto Press.

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