Digitalization of university education in countries of Central Asia influences the satisfaction of the region's citizens' needs for knowledge and skills that are required in the quickly globalizing world. A high level of knowledge and practical skills, their accessibility, the openness of digital universities and teachers, flexibility of the…

We offer a Cultural Studies approach--a transdisciplinary field of study critically examining contemporary culture--to illuminate the roles of cultural producers and consumers in mediating the meaning of university rankings amidst a global media landscape. Using the case study of Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and drawing on the concepts of: (1)…

Numerous countries have implemented excellence initiatives designed to establish world-class universities, boost research productivity, build up staff capacity, and thereby reform doctoral education systems as part of this agenda. To date, the relationship between excellence-driven initiatives and leading universities' doctoral education…

The article examines the global university reputation race, launched in 2003. Between 2003 and 2010, there appeared a cluster of publications on the qualitative comparative analysis of their methodologies, and since 2010, a cluster of publications on the quantitative comparative analysis of university rankings has started to form. The review made…

Purpose: This study aims to explore how the national quality assurance system pushes the obtainment of international accreditation and investigates the dual pursuit of international and national accreditations by higher education institutions (HEIs), focusing on the urgency, challenges and success factors involved in leading and managing the…

As an emerging quality assurance system, Vietnam has undertaken various research initiatives in this field. This chapter provides an initial review of research on quality assurance in Vietnamese higher education that helps identify quality assurance aspects and methodologies crucial for the development of quality assurance practices and systems.…

This article contributes to the debate on university organisational actorhood by surveying the drivers of university strategic behaviour and choice. Utilising organisational literature and interviews with senior leaders from three Canadian research-intensive universities, the article elucidates the dynamics underlying universities' behaviours…

This article reviews the history of world university rankings and their large-scale impact. It then analyzes some of the criticism of the world ranking systems before exploring their impact in the context of Thai universities. The authors' assertions centre on the premise that much of the criticism of these ranking systems can be divided into…

China has become a main host country for international students, but its international programmes for higher education still need improvement. This study aimed to examine the academic challenges that international postgraduates in China face based on Luc Boltanski's idea of ordinary critique. A qualitative research approach was adopted, and data…

While serving as a benchmark of 'world-class' universities, the global university rankings do not include the vast majority of universities. However, "Times Higher Education" developed a Japanese national university ranking table in 2017, which includes approximately 40% of all Japanese universities. This increased coverage of…

Global university rankings (GUR) have become increasingly influential as a proxy measure of higher education quality. The more recent development of regionalised forms of rankings has increased their global reach, drawing a greatly expanded range of institutions into their orbit. As a result, regionalised GUR have developed an increasing potential…

This paper examines the evolving landscape of higher education publications, focusing on the emergence of new models that are reshaping scholarly discourse and dissemination. Through a comprehensive review of literature, we analyze the trends, challenges, and opportunities presented by these new models. Our exploration encompasses diverse…

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate how global university rankings interact with quality and quality assurance in higher education along the two lines of investigation, that is, from the perspective of their relationship with the concept of quality (assurance) and the development of quality assurance policies in higher education, with…

Latin American universities have been subject to old and new forms of colonialism that act concurrently. Old forms of colonialism are based on a matrix of race and labour divisions that universities have inherited, reproduced, and reinforced. New forms of colonialism are attaching to global forces that promote a world class university model based…

So-called 'world-class universities' emerged on the global higher education scene following the Second World War. Their development in countries around the world, particularly since the early 2000s, has evolved into an international norm, although not without debate and contestation. This paper applies Constructivist theory to reflect on how local…