The article examines, primarily based on large-scale survey data, the functionalist proposition that HE customers, students and employers, demand rankings to be able to adopt informed decisions on where to study and who to recruit respectively. This is contrasted to a Weberian "conflict" perspective on rankings in which positional…

University rankings historically have been based on a number of criteria, the most common being research output and quality. Different approaches have been developed which are surrounded by controversy; nevertheless, university rankings remain popular. It can be noted that due to the global economic recession, they receive further interest since…