Abstract

Short introduction: We present a sustainable approach towards using university rankings for developmental purposes, drawing from experience from a new initiative based on multiprofessional collaboration at the largest university in Finland, the University of Helsinki.

University rankings are coarse indices of performance in multi-faceted fields such as sustainability, research, and education, in organisations which by nature are highly complex. Yet, rankings are followed globally as measures of success of universities. While an increasing number of universities are being ranked, concern with the methodology and the use of ranking results have been voiced. Consequently, some universities have opted out from being ranked by not providing statistics to ranking organisations.

Drawing from a new initiative at the largest university in Finland, the University of Helsinki, we discuss the use of university rankings for developmental purposes with what we consider to be a sustainable approach. At the heart lies the establishment of a multiprofessional task force combining university management experts in data analysis, leadership support, international affairs, and research funding. To shed light on the university’s ranking performance, a quantitative analysis of rankings was used to guide questions for a qualitative benchmarking exercise with four carefully selected European universities, resulting in a report to the university board. Besides answering to the need for information by university leadership, the process of working as a multiprofessional task force was highly instructive and strengthened the expertise of university management teams.

We highlight the process of working together as well as what we learned to be a sustainable approach to rankings. In our view this includes:

• Principles for following rankings and which ones are followed, e.g. based on organisation’s strategy or priorities.

• An informed view of rankings and thorough understanding of their methodological basis and limitations.

• Principles for the use of ranking results in the organisation, and awareness of such principles.

• Adopting both quantitative and qualitative approaches in the analyses of ranking results and in potential follow-up measures.

On the provision that sufficient resources are put into analysis, our conclusion is that university rankings are a useful tool for identifying internal developmental needs. For a sustainable approach, our recommendation is to draw from the array of expertise within

the organisation to address both quantitative and qualitative dimensions. This model is also useful in other contexts such as responsible evaluation of research.