In response to global competition in higher education, university rankings have been developed. These have been interpreted as indicating the regions and countries with the most prestigious and competitive higher education institutions. The rankings are viewed as important in many countries, but their role is ambiguous and contested in the Nordic…

The "Excellence in Assessment" (EIA) designation's purpose has been to recognize institutions of higher education that demonstrate an ability to integrate assessment practices throughout the institution, provide evidence of student learning outcomes, and use assessment results to guide decision-making and improve student performance.…

Purpose: The implementation and reporting of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) is one of the emerging challenges for higher education institutions (HEIs), but the lack of well-defined reporting structures and topics for this sector makes it difficult to map and evaluate HEI performance in relation to 2030 Agenda. This study aims to assess…

Studies of global university rankings often assume that rankings as Anglo-American policy scripts have an increasing influence resulting in a convergence of policies and practices, or that the ideas of rankings continue to diverge into national types. In this article, we take a middle ground by arguing that when an idea of ranking is grounded in a…

This study assesses the technical efficiency of higher education institutions in terms of labor market outcomes for recent graduates, employing a comparative analysis of three distinct methodological approaches. Using a sample of recent graduates of Colombian universities who earned their degrees between 2007 and 2011, we estimated the…

With the transition to knowledge-based economies, higher education (HE) has become a driving factor for economic and social development. Alongside high-quality education and excellent research, social responsibility (SR) has become an important aspect of universities' accountability and legitimacy. Considering the growing importance of SR for…

Applying qualitative methods, this paper examines the burgeoning of quality assurance databases, processes and networks of actors in the field of higher education in Europe. Our main argument is that there has been a move from the Bologna Process being the near singular focus for European-level coordination and harmonisation of higher education,…

Policy discussions related to higher education in sub-Saharan Africa often include concerns related to quality. Rather than being an abstract characteristic, quality of higher education is the result of a series of actions and practices, and yet there is limited research on the practices associated with quality in higher education in Africa. This…

Post-secondary institutions are required to complete a variety of quality assurance activities including external program review, a process of inviting external reviewers from outside the institution to provide constructive feedback on all aspects of an academic program. While external program reviews have been completed for decades, there has…

Institutional researchers are acutely aware of the systemic inequities pervasive throughout higher education in the United States because the data that we collect, analyze, visualize, and disseminate quantifies and reveals them. As calls for addressing issues of equity have intensified across campuses, the question of how institutional research…

In the context of the internationalization and marketization of higher education, it has become a trend for a nation to build its higher education brand for global competitiveness. This paper analyses what is seen as the urgent need to enhance China's international education strategy and how branding has assisted in this process. Drawing on…

Purpose: Recent scholarship has explored higher education institutions' (HEIs) role in transitioning to a sustainable society, but empirically, questions remain regarding their impact on the sustainability of surrounding areas. This study aims to examine the correlation between HEIs' sustainability actions and local sustainability performance.…

The peer assessment scores published annually by "U.S. News & World Report" ("USNWR") have fast become the de facto measure of institutional reputation in higher education. While higher education policymakers often use this score for benchmarking and performance-based funding purposes, relatively little is known about this…

Sustainability has increasingly become key in universities, as the objectives of sustainable development are essential to establish policies, guidelines and indicators that guide institutions to be more sustainable. This recognition has led many authors to develop methods to assess universities based on their performance in terms of sustainable…

Purpose: The converging global trends for countries and educational institutions is to push the boundaries of science and develop new technologies through the application of internationalization strategies. However, the extent to which higher education institutions (HEIs) participate and apply internationalization strategies in higher education…