Abstract

Two interesting initiatives have started to develop more balanced international league tables of universities. The first initiative is being taken by UK magazine the Times Higher Education (THE), which recently entered into a collaboration with both the international academic community and research-metrics company Thomsons Reuters to create an improved and more transparent version of its influential World University Rankings. Under another initiative, the European Union is developing a new, alternative worldwide ranking system of universities to rival currently existing league labels, the Times Higher Education and Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings being the most prominent among them. What are the details of these two new initiatives, and why are they being developed? What were some of the weaknesses of the way in which several existing international league tables have been compiled, and how would it be possible to develop a more balanced university ranking?