Global University Rankings

Part I. Global University Rankings: History, Concepts and International Developments

1. Introduction: University Rankings and European Higher Education
Tero Erkkilä

2. The Impact of Rankings on the European Higher Education Landscape
Barbara M. Kehm

3. Global, Asian and European Backgrounds of Global University Rankings
Bob Reinalda

Part II. University Rankings and Institutional Competition: Commodification, Stratification and Uniformity

4. Convergence and Divergence in Research, Higher Education and Innovation Policies: An Analysis of Nine European Countries
Antti Pelkonen, Tuula Teräväinen-Litardo

5. Channel, Filter or Buffer? National Policy Responses to Global Rankings
Åse Gornitzka

6. The Drift to Conformity: The Myth of Institutional Diversity
Jon Nixon

7. Polish Higher Education and the Global Academic Competition: University Rankings in the Reform Debates
Dorota Dakowska

8. Reforming Higher Education Institutions in Finland: Competitiveness and Global University Rankings
Tero Erkkilä, Ossi Piironen

Part III. University Rankings and Disciplinarity: Challenges for Social Sciences and Humanities

9. Measuring Excellence in Social Sciences and Humanities: Limitations and Opportunities
Arto Mustajoki

10. Ranking European Social Science and Stratifying Global Knowledge: The Example of European Political Science
Niilo Kauppi

11. Global Disciplinary Rankings and Images of Quality: The Case of Political Science
Erkki Berndtson

12. The Colonization of the Academic Field by Rankings: Restricting Diversity and Obstructing the Progress of Knowledge
Richard Münch

Part IV. Conclusions

13. Global Rankings as a Marker of Revaluing the University
James H. Mittelman

14. Conclusions
Tero Erkkilä

Keywords: Social Sciences, Education Policy, Educational Policy and Politics, Higher Education, Methodology of the Social Sciences, Administration, Organization and Leadership, Social Policy