Ranking of universities in Africa: Tackling the elephant in the room

Prof Barnabas Nawangwe

A statement from the public relations office of Makerere University and another from Times Higher Education (THE) were published on the official account of the Government of Uganda on social media platform X.

This was followed by a statement from the university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, and a rare primetime interview on national TV by the same professor. Such has been the charged reaction to a news feature in Daily Monitor newspaper decrying Makerere University’s decline to the 41st position in Africa in the recently released THE rankings of universities.

And unsurprisingly, social, print, and broadcast media in Uganda is exploding with punditry on the subject. During the TV interview, Prof Nawangwe was blunt. “Our first position is that the article by one of the local newspapers was completely irresponsible and unprofessional and I think I need to take this opportunity to inform the public about the ranking of universities around the world,” he said.

At the core of Prof Nawangwe’s displeasure was the argument that the university’s performance is better than the rank the newspaper reported. Although he did not dispute the rank, he suggested that it should have been reported (and understood) in its rightful context.

The context that the university performed better in other rankings, especially those that do not pit it against universities whose funding Makerere does not match. This is a familiar reaction: enjoy the glory when ranked in a top position and criticise the methodology of the rankings when you end up in a position you dislike.

However, Prof Nawangwe is not alone. Across the continent, many dispute the quality and usefulness of rankings. The attributes of quality on which they focus and the way they collect data on them have been contested.

The argument is that they focus on attributes for which they have (easily) measurable proxies rather than on what is important. Critics argue that, consequently, rankings derail effort from things on which it should focus, to things that will improve ranking even if these are peripheral to universities’ mandate.

Indeed, rankings have been criticized for pressurizing universities towards global homogeneity at the expense of relevance to local needs; fuelling competition at the expense of cooperation; degrading the place of teaching and community engagement as near total attention is placed on publications; and marginalizing otherwise viable universities but which are not ranked into obscurity.

Moreover, some proxies of quality like the awards, journals and citation indices that are considered are selected without widely accepted authority; they give older universities in the global |North unfair advantage; and access to them is subjective.

Beyond concerns for its validity and fairness, that the data on which some rankings depend is self-reported and handled by rigid algorithms is also of concern. Besides, these concerns are not helped by the fact that some ranking organizations are for-profit or conflicted.

Notwithstanding, the fact is that key stakeholders pay attention to the rankings even when they are significantly ignorant about or uncomfortable with the way the rankings work. Understandably.

Reported to have been done as early as 1870, 1900, 1925 and through the subsequent years, rankings of higher education institutions are as part of the human experience—and are as controversial—as the UNDP’s Human Development Index, World Happiness Index, Forbes World’s Billionaires Lists, or any other ranking.

As Myers and Robe put it, therefore, “Higher education ‘can’t choose whether to have rankings or not, only whether they’ll be good or bad’.”

However, the universities do not have to embrace the direction into which rankings might derail them. On this, the universities have agency. They could reply the rankings they see as bad by devising good ones.

Systems of ranking that better reflect their circumstances, priorities and need for feedback. Yet, for Africa, there is an elephant in the room: the continent does not have any home-grown national or regional ranking. (The only continent in the world to be in that situation).

Moreover, none of the movements trying to remedy perceived inadequacies in the current system of ranking universities (i.e. the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, The Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics, Hong Kong Principles for Assessing Researchers, the International Network of Research Management Societies, Coalition on Advancing Research Assessment, etc.) is based on the continent.

If universities on the continent have interests that are marginalized in rankings that they cannot wish away, what have they done to improve those rankings?

For all the complaints that they have raised about misrepresentation of their priorities and circumstances in available rankings, why haven’t universities and similar organizations on the continent offered even a single ranking of universities that takes cognizance of these priorities and circumstances?

A ranking that promotes progress towards the ‘development university’ envisaged in the Association of African Universities’ Accra Declaration of 1972, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 or the various regional and national development plans.

How are universities in the continent articulating the attributes of quality assurance they prioritize onto the ranking agenda — to leverage the enormous power of rankings to progress towards their missions?

If home-grown academics and researchers have a better understanding of the problems Africa faces, why haven’t they taken the mantle in developing alternative measures that are better suited to the needs of the continent?

Answers to these and similar questions may demonstrate that rankings are not the problem. Rather, the various contradictions and challenges facing university education on the continent, which the rankings mirror as is.

Indeed, the answers could pinpoint the node in the higher education system at which efforts to improve should start. But who is looking for them?

jude_ssempebwa@yahoo.co.uk

The writer is an associate professor of Higher Education Studies at Makerere University. 

Related

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}