College

Online university rankings clearinghouse

By Dale Kirby

News from the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP):

The ranking of colleges and universities continues to be a growing phenomenon around the world, and today more than 30 different nations regularly publish ranking systems. In addition, several international ranking systems compare multiple countries and their higher education institutional efforts. To ensure ranking systems contribute beneficially to the perceptions of quality in postsecondary education it is critical that knowledge and information is shared among all interested parties-ranking organizations, higher education institutions, governments, and researchers.

The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) recently launched a new online knowledge center to increase understanding about the breadth of and global impact of college ranking systems. The IHEP Ranking Systems Clearinghouse ( ) provides a road map of the complex ranking landscape for more than 30 countries, offering annotated links to national and international ranking systems. The clearinghouse contains a collection of thousands of documents, reports, books, journals, and newsletters focusing on specific ranking topics such as access and equity, impact on institutional decision making, impact on student decision making, policy development, and world class universities.