Over 650 Higher Education institutions registered for the first edition of the U-Multirank project, a new university ranking system, officially launched by the European Union on 30 January 2013, seeking to bring a broader approach to the assessment of HEIs throughout the world.
The aim of the first U-Multirank edition was cover a minimum of 500 higher education institutions from around the world, a target number that got exceeded substantiallu.U-Multirank will rate universities in five areas: reputation for research, quality of teaching and learning, international orientation, success in knowledge transfer – such as partnerships with businesses, and start-ups – and contribution to regional growth.
The aim, said Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Sport & Multilingualism is to give students and institutions a clear picture of their performance across a range of important areas.
Until now university rankings have placed “disproportionate” weight on research excellence, she said.
The approach was developed on the basis of a feasibility study carried out in coordination with 150 higher education institutions from Europe and around the world, which confirmed that “both the concept and implementation of a multi-dimensional ranking was realistic”, said the European Commission.
U-Multirank would help students to choose the university or college that was best for them, and enable universities to identify their strengths or weaknesses and learn from one another's experience. “Finally, it will give policy-makers a more complete view of their higher education systems so that they can strengthen their country's performance as a whole."
The article contains quotations from an article by Osborn, A.. (2013). U-Multirank is launched, 500 universities expected to sign up. University World News. 257 (1) http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130201144343699&q...