league tables – cearta.ie

The Australian Research Council has recently completed its consultation process to develop ranking tables for journals. Controversy led to the Humanities and Creative Arts list being unavailable for a time after publication, but it seems to be available now. The ranking is in four divisions: A*, A, B and C (and there is a nice explanation here). However unfortunate such a development may be, given the way in which university life is developing internationally, it is inevitable that such tables will be developed and will have an impact.

The law journals have been extracted from the humanities list by the ever-industrious Simon Fodden on Slaw. …

NUI Maynooth vs TCD at the top of the Sunday Times university rankings

29 September, 200816 January, 2009

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| Universities

There are lots of university league tables out there; and the University of Edinburgh maintains an excellent page assessing these various leagues and rankings. For example, Times Higher Education (rankings), Newsweek (pdf), Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Wuhan University all produce annual tables of universities worldwide. Similarly, most of the UK newspapers produce tables of the UK’s universities (Guardian | Independent | Telegraph | Times). The Sunday Times annually produces just such a list but also has a parallel list of Irish universities. …

Real university rankings

25 October, 200623 April, 2009

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| Universities

Earlier this month, the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) published its world university rankings for this year. (The Trinity College Dublin (TCD) press release on our positions in the rankings is here). As univerities world-wide tie themselves up in knots to improve their positions on the various tables published by the Times, the THES, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and US News & World Report, amongst others, here’s a rankings scheme that I think they should all take seriously: Eamonn Fitzgerald on Rainy Day has ranked some of the world’s top universities simpy for the attractiveness of their websites. TCD didn’t feature (funny, that); and Brown is best.…

We have a cunning plan

9 October, 200623 April, 2009

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| Universities

Trinity College Dublin last night launched its Strategic Plan at a reception in which the Provost presented the Minister for Education with a copy of the plan. It has played well in a piece by Sean Flynn in today’s Irish Times, under the headline “Trinity seeks 25% increase in postgraduates”, and focussing on the plan’s strong emphasis on increased research activity and aim to improve Trinity’s position in world rankings as a consequence.

It is an important development, and I welcome it wholeheartedly, but I feel the need to sound a note of caution. …