Ranking of unis is 'bad science', says Simon Marginson - See more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/ranking-of-unis-is-bad-science-says-simon-marginson/story-e6frgcjx-1226740536595#sthash.MeWA9TE7.dpuf

RANKINGS expert Simon Marginson has called on leading universities to band together and expose the weakness of well-known rankings, including the Times Higher Education and QS league tables.

Professor Marginson told a meeting of senior executives from Pacific rim universities that some rankings had little relevance to the real world, were open to manipulation and were "based on bad social science".

"These rankings get a lot of airplay. In social science terms they are rubbish," he told the Association of Pacific Rim Universities meeting being held at Australian National University on Monday.

                            Professor Simon Marginson, One of the Great Education Thinkers

Professor Marginson, who takes up an appointment as professor of higher education at the University of London at the end of the month, said there was no point calling for a boycott because "they don't work".

"What we should collectively do, in my view, is start to critique and discredit the bad social science at the base of multi-indicator rankings," he said. "We are universities; it is not hard for us to say what is good science and what is bad. We need to push at bad ranking methods or at least weaken their legitimacy."

He told the Canberra meeting that threats by QS to sue him, and the predilection of governments to use rankings as a proxy for quality, made speaking out even more important.

He said the results of questionable rankings "slide in all directions" from year to year because they mix survey and objective data, and adjust arbitrary weightings.

"The link back to the real world is over-determined by indicator selection, weightings, poor survey returns and ignorant respondents, scaling decisions and surface fluctuation that is driven by small changes between almost equally ranked universities," he said.

"The rankers shape the table, not the real state of the sector - or not enough. There is scope for manipulation in conversations between the universities and the rankers."

Professor Marginson, who has been a vocal opponent of survey-based rankings for years, sits on the advisory board of the THE. While that ranking was superior to QS, it was still fatally flawed once outside the top 50 universities, he said.

Representatives from both rankings agencies jumped to the defence. Phil Baty, rankings editor with THE, said: "Thomson Reuters carries out all the data collection and analysis, (meaning) that there is no scope for any manipulation, as Simon suggests, in any conversations between the rankers and the universities."

Ben Sowter, QS head of research, said the ranking was open to scrutiny and went "to great lengths to inform people what it is not (and) what it is".

"Individual indicators can be sorted and accessed separately for those who prefer not to accept the blend of factors we and our advisers have devised.

"Ours is the world's largest survey of academics with the 2013 index built on over 62,000 responses gathered over three years."

A leading authority on institutional league tables, Professor Marginson also serves on the advisory board for the Shanghai-based Academic Ranking of World Universities.

He said the Shanghai ranking, as well as the University of Leiden and the Scimago league tables, used "objective, externally referenced, solid metrics though we can complain about (the counting of a university's) Nobel Laureates".

Source:  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/ranking-of-unis-is-bad-science-says-simon-marginson/story-e6frgcjx-1226740536595#sthash.MeWA9TE7.dpuf

Universities under-rated as mega-export industries

During the coffee break at an economics workshop last month in Brisbane, Australia, a senior official from the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade casually remarked to me that Australia’s top three exports are now coal, iron ore and educa­tion.

Academics are trained to be skeptical, so my immediate ques­tion to him was: “How did you calculate that?"

His reply was eminently reas­onable. Since they wanted to know how much the incomes of Australians had increased due to the purchases of foreigners, they added the living expenses and transportation expenditures of foreign students while they were in Australia to the increase in tuition revenues of Australian language institutes, colleges and universities.

We both agreed that although education may rank third in dollar terms, modern mining is a very capital intensive process.

Because the education services and consumption expenditures purchased by foreign students are quite labour intensive, “edu­cation exports" are, per dollar, much bigger job creators than mining.

Australians realized some years ago that their proximity to rapidly growing Asian countries and their English language edu­cational system gave them a market opportunity.

There are hundreds of millions of newly middle class families in China, India, Indonesia and Southeast Asia who want the very best for their children (now, very often, their only child) and economic growth means that they now have the income to pay for it.

Australia has been targeting that market for 20 years.

Today, the concern among Australian academics is that their early entry into the education market may have been at a price/ quality point that made sense in the 1990s, when family incomes in their target markets were considerably lower than now.

However, the parents of their students are extremely conscious of academic quality, and now they can afford to pay for more of it.

In the Age of the Internet, geographic proximity also now counts for less — and in any event, in addition to Asian coun­tries, the economic growth of Turkey, Brazil, Russia, etc. means that the potential market for high-quality post-secondary education in English is expand­ing globally.

The question is: who will supply that market?

Which is why this particular civil servant was spending his day at an academic research workshop — he wanted to under­stand better the research process which is such a dominant com­ponent of international rankings of universities, such as Shanghai University’s “Academic Ranking of World Universities."

And the reference points really are international. One example of the globalization of higher edu­cation comes from the job mar­ket.

Source: http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/132885-universities-under-rated-as-mega-export-industries

Record numbers of international students

The number of international students around the world is continuing to rise sharply, with provisional figures from Unesco's Institute for Statistics revealing an annual increase of 12%.

The final figures for 2009, to be published in May, are expected to show the number of international students rising to 3.43 million from 2.96 million, according to the Unesco statistics.

There are many different measures of overseas students - but this global figure from Unesco shows a huge spike in numbers this decade, rising by more than 75% since 2000.

The United States is the biggest destination. According to the Institute of International Education, the latest figures show there are 691,000 students in the US, with an annual value to the economy estimated at around $20bn (£12.3bn).

But its dominance now depends on the ever-growing number of arrivals from China, overtaking India as the largest single group of overseas students. The number of Chinese students in the US rose by almost 30% in a single year. The third biggest contingent in the US comes from South Korea.

China has become the firecracker in this market. There are more than 440,000 Chinese students abroad - and there are plans to rapidly increase the number of overseas students coming to China's universities, with an ambitious target of 500,000 places.

To put this into a longer-term perspective, the entire overseas student population in China could once have travelled in a minibus. In the early 1950s it consisted of 20 east Europeans.

Chasing quality

Driving the demand among Chinese to study abroad is a shortage of places on high-quality degree courses at home and the pressure to have an overseas qualification when chasing jobs, says Rahul Choudaha, associate director of the New York-based World Education Services.

The Chinese university system has expanded in terms of quantity, says Dr Choudaha, but it is struggling to keep pace with the demand for quality.

The plan to bring more overseas students into China is part of the country's drive to internationalise its economy and become a "knowledge power", says Dr Choudaha.

It's also a reflection of how much the culture of the overseas student market has changed - with western universities no longer able to depend on their pivotal position.

It was once a trade as stately as steamships, vaguely colonial in how it managed to make a nice little earner seem rather philanthropic. Now it's more like international air travel, with the trade routes of this multi-billion business wrapping themselves around the globe in every direction.

The current intake of overseas students in China also shows a different kind of map of influence. The only European country in its top 10 is Russia - with the most overseas students in China coming from South Korea, the US, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Overseas without the travel

It's also no longer necessarily about overseas students travelling from overseas.

Figures released by the British Council this week show that there are now more "overseas students" taking UK degrees in their own countries than there are overseas students coming to study in the UK.

The UK is the second biggest destination for overseas students.But there are now 340,000 students taking UK university courses in their home countries, either through partnerships between UK and local universities or else through UK universities setting up branch campuses, such as Nottingham in Ningbo in China.

More than 160 branch campuses have been opened in more than 50 countries - mostly by US universities. There are also a multitude of partnerships and joint degrees as part of this academic cross-pollination.

According to the British Council, this type of "transnational" studying has increased by 70% in a decade.The council's chief executive, Martin Davidson, says this is going to appeal to "students across the world who may not be able to afford to spend several years thousands of miles away from home".Technology can only accelerate this process. Online degrees are making strides in the mainstream, with US firms such as Laureate teaming up with institutions such as Liverpool University to offer internet-based courses. Laureate has a network of university links in 24 countries.

Talent search

Another key to this growth in internationalisation is the competition for the most talented students and staff.

Major research institutions are like top football clubs, operating in in a kind of international zone, judged by international comparisons and competing to recruit the best individuals from around the world.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is widely-recognised as one of the best research universities in the world. It might be physically based in Boston, but its cutting-edge postgraduate courses depend on recruiting the best students - and this means a global rather than a national catchment area.

About 40% of the students on graduate courses are from outside the US, says Danielle Guichard-Ashbrook, director and associate dean of the International Students Office.

"We open up admissions to the whole world. We don't consider their nationality, we just want the best - and we get them," she says.

There are more than a hundred different nationalities represented in the graduate intake - with the biggest numbers coming from China, India and South Korea.

Cash cows

The scale of the increase in international student numbers in university is not without risks. In the UK, the current level of anxiety over proposed student visa restrictions reveals how much universities have come to depend on the income from overseas students.

Steven Schwartz is vice chancellor of Macquarie University in Sydney, having previously worked in universities in the UK and US. In Australia he has seen how quickly an expanding overseas student market can evaporate.

Indian public opinion was outraged after a series of attacks on Indian students in Australia in 2009. Applications from Indian students slumped by 50% - and threatened an industry which had grown to become Australia's third biggest export.

He says the lesson from this rise and fall is that university systems should always remember that students are individuals rather than walking fee cheques.

"Studying with students from diverse backgrounds, domestic students learn about other cultures, cuisines and languages. They also learn about fairness and tolerance and teamwork and fair play. These lessons are just as important as any learned in class," says Prof Schwartz.

"However these lessons will be negated when we treat international students as simply income sources. No student wants to be an export earner and the sooner we learn this the better."

Source: BBC News@ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12671198

UK university to open campus in Thailand

A UK university is to open a campus in Bangkok - in what is claimed as the first such UK branch university to be established in Thailand.

The University of Central Lancashire has signed a deal with a Thai-based entrepreneur to open a university campus in Bangkok in 2014.

Degrees will be taught in English and validated by the UK university.

This will be the latest example of universities "globalising" with overseas branches.

It follows a path set by the University of Nottingham which set up a branch university in China.

The greatest concentration of such branch universities, from UK and US universities, has been in Asia and the Gulf states.

Newcastle University is establishing a medical school in Malaysia, where Nottingham also has a campus. University College London has a campus in Qatar.

The announcement of the University of Central Lancashire's plans will give this "new" university an international identity and an opportunity to expand.

The University of Central Lancashire's vice-chancellor, Malcolm McVicar, said its market research showed "strong demand" for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Thailand.

Thailand has been identified as a hub for South East Asia, which it expects to be a "key area for future global growth".

The UK university will invest £7.5m and will work alongside the entrepreneur Sitichai Charoenkajonkul.

'Global brand'

There are other UK universities which have partnerships with universities in Thailand, but the University of Central Lancashire is claiming to be the first from the UK to set up a full university there.

It expects to have 5,000 students in 10 years and will offer courses in areas such as business, built and natural environment, engineering, creative and performing arts and languages.

Kevin Van-Cauter, higher education adviser at the British Council, says this is part of an increasing pattern of globalisation in higher education.

Setting up overseas branches allows universities to "establish a global brand", he says.

The physical presence of a campus can also be presented as a bigger commitment to a region than the more widespread partnership arrangements, he suggests.

Such branch campuses can be used to attract students from across the wider region, he says.

Overseas universities in South East Asia might recruit students from China, Vietnam and Malaysia and further afield, such as the Middle East and North Africa, he says.

There are US universities which have set up chains of overseas campuses in several different countries.

Source: BBC News @ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16509673

The 2nd Thai Business and Thai Studies conference in Melbourne

We have launched the call for papers for 2012 Thai Studies and business conference in Melbourne. The aim of this conference is to be the international forum for academics, research students and researchers who are interested in Thailand to gather and present new ideas from their research projects.

The conference will be held on 25-26 October 2012 in Melbourne.

As usual, RMIT University and the University of Melbourne will host this important event. Some papers from different themes will potentially be accepted and published in the The International Journal of Studies in Thai Business, Society & Culture.

This is the link to the conference website.

See you all in Melbourne!

Vic's Swinburne Uni to close campus

Swinburne University of Technology will close its Lilydale campus in Melbourne's outer east, home to 3000 students, and up to 240 staff will lose their jobs. TAFE courses in areas such as hospitality, leisure, recreation and tourism will no longer be offered, and courses in low demand will also be dumped.

The decision comes after the Victorian government slashed $290 million from TAFE funding in the 2012/13 budget.

Swinburne had $35 million of its TAFE budget, about one quarter, cut for this financial year.

Vice-chancellor Linda Kristjanson said with fewer viable TAFE courses and a drop in demand for higher education at Lilydale, the campus would no longer offer courses from July 1 next year.

Students in the middle of higher education courses at Lilydale will have their programs rolled into courses at the Hawthorn campus from January, while those working towards a TAFE qualification may continue their courses at the nearby Croydon or Wantirna campuses.

"We expect that there will be no impact on the students themselves," Prof Kristjanson told reporters.

"Geography is important when students make the choice about their programs, but moreover they are making choices about quality programs."

The future of the Prahran campus will be decided after 2014, with TAFE courses there to be moved to other campuses and the Faculty of Design to go to Hawthorn.

There will be 120 voluntary redundancies offered to Swinburne TAFE teachers and the same number available to general staff across the university.

Prof Kristjanson said sackings would be a last resort, and in her experience voluntary redundancy programs were often over-subscribed.

Higher Education Minister Peter Hall acknowledged the TAFE funding cuts had helped drive the closures.

"There is no doubt that some of the changes for vocational training and funding have led them to some of those decisions in part," he told reporters.

"But essentially the main reason for these changes is a decision taken by the university council which reflects the priorities that they have towards program delivery into the future."

Opposition education spokesman James Merlino said the closure of the Lilydale campus would have wide-ranging implications across Melbourne's outer east.

"This is the reality of $290 million being ripped out of TAFE," he told reporters.

"Kids from regional Victoria travelling to Lilydale will no longer have the opportunity of a TAFE course."

No decision has been made about the future of the campus building at Lilydale.

Source: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/vics-swinburne-to-close-campus-cuts-jobs/story-e6frf7kf-1226418929897 BY, Melissa Jenkins From: AAP July 06, 2012 5:43PM

Why not open-access journals?

Knowledge should be free and available to everyone. The free flow of knowledge in society underpins long-term development of all aspects of humanity. Having conducted research in higher education institutions in South East Asia and Australia, I have come to question the amount of money we continuously pay to subscribe to journals of big publishing companies and the value we get in return. It is us, taxpayers, who cover the costs of research (and researchers) in the public education system so why do we also need to pay for these companies to publish the outputs of 'our' research? There is a growing clamour against exclusive approaches to research and scholarship, especially when much of it is funded by taxpayers. Internet-based peer-reviewed journals, available to all readers with neither restriction nor charge, or "open-access journals", offer an alternative for academics of various disciplines to disseminate ideas and evidence to a wide audience. Open-access journals, with costs covered by publication fees, sponsorships, in-kind contributions, or other sources of support, challenge the traditional subscription model. More than 4,200 open access journals, in a variety of fields, are listed in the directory of open access journals (DOAJ: www.doaj.org).

Last week, The Australian reported that "Harvard University, The world's richest university - and second richest not-for-profit organisation in the world after the Catholic Church - has told staff it can no longer afford to pay for journal subscriptions and they should publish in open access alternatives." This is alarming that a preeminent academic institution could be looking to disseminate knowledge gained from research via non-mainstream media in which people (students, university, industry and fellow academics) can read your work freely. Open-access journals following vigorous academic process can be among the most potent sources of knowledge. Journal impact factors are an important consideration. Some open-access journals have received impact factors from Thomson Reuters Scientific (or ISI). The number of open access journals with listed impact factors has increased from 239 in 2004 to almost 400 in 2010. It is expected that the impact of open-access journal can be stronger than traditional journals because of the internet-based nature and, therefore, potential for high citation rates.

One specific condition is crucial. Most open-access journals charge publication fees to academics who submit their papers for potential publication. Some may argue articles can be published in open-access journals with ease by paying the required fee. The quality of journal articles and significance of research are, therefore, questionable. A thorough search of DOAJ shows an interesting trend among open access-journals in science and social sciences. Most are now operated by universities in non-English speaking countries. These journals are run by different groups of academics who, as a result of their intense interest in their respective disciplines, do not charge publication fees. This provides hope to researchers worldwide, no matter what their financial resources, for unimpeded dissemination of their research findings. The culture of knowledge dissemination was initially pioneered by the non-academic sector, in particularly during the boom of the dotcom industry. A good example is the site www.onlineopinion.com.au which long has been run for free, notwithstanding financial donations from readers. Or the new way to amalgamate resources among universities and create a forum such as www.conversation.edu.au is vigorous and achievable. Is this not a model which could be adopted by the editorial teams of open-access journals adopt?

One of the key missions among academics is to publish. We are familiar with the culture of academia articulated in the adage 'publish or perish'. Publications in the traditional international journals can (and will) lead you to where you want to be. In Australia, the Australian Research Council (ARC) asks grant applicants to rank their 10 best publications when applying for an ARC research grant. In an interview by The Australian, the ARC CEO, Margaret Sheil, confirmed she did not consider open access appropriate at this time. Critics of ARC's stance point to its "lack of understanding of core issues". All traditional academic journals have long been controlled by major publishing companies such as Wiley, Sage, Blackwell, Emerald, Elsevier, Kluwer etc. The power they hold is incredible and it does not seem to me that academics have done enough to challenge their power. We need to act in order to change the way we disseminate our academic outputs to the public. Copy right is a factor that contributes to the power of major publishing companies. In the traditional publication culture, authors transfer the copy right of their research papers to the publisher. Most open-access journals, on the other hand, will not ask the author to transfer copy right or intellectual property to the publisher. Australia needs a system and leadership which promotes equitable ways we can share more technical and financial resources among public institutions (including universities) nationally to create more open-access journals that are of high quality and become impactful in various academic disciplines. This approach will change the culture of research and publication not only in Australia but globally. * I published the original version of this essay at http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=13564