Is there a gap between students' preference and university presidents' concern over college ranking indicators?: A case study of "College Navigator in Taiwan"

• Published in: Higher education 2012-12, Vol.64 (6), p.767-787
• Main Authors: Hou, Angela Yung-Chi, Morse, Robert J, Shao, Yueh-jen E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accreditation; Administrator Attitudes; Asia; Asians; Ausland; Case Studies; Certification; College Choice; College Presidents; College students; Colleges; Colleges & universities; Colleges and universities; Comparative Analysis; Computer Uses in Education; Councils; Education; Education parks; Education policy; Education, Secondary; Educational evaluation; Educational institutions; Educational policy; Educational Quality; Evaluation Criteria; Faculty Development; Foreign Countries; Foreign Students; Full time students; Heads of state; Higher Education; Histograms; Hochschule; Hochschulsystem; Indicators; Information Sources; Instructional Leadership; International Education; International students; Lehre; Methodological problems; Navigation; Preferences; Presidents; Program Descriptions; R&D; Rating; Ratings & rankings; Research & development; Research grants; Research universities; School facilities; Search Engines; Selection Criteria; Student; Student Attitudes; Students; Students, Foreign; Studium; Taiwan; Universities; University presidents; Wettbewerb
• ISSN: 0018-1560; 1573-174X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10734-012-9524-5

In order to help students make well-informed choices, reliable college ranking systems with comparable information about higher education institutions worldwide have been welcomed by many students. Because traditional college rankings had many methodological problems, a new type of user-based ranking, called "personalized college ranking" started to develop in many nations in the late 1990s. In 2008, Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT), launched a ranking project called "College Navigator in Taiwan" which developed the first Asian student-based college search engine to provide local and international students with transparent information on Taiwan's higher education institutions. The main objective of this paper, therefore, is to compare the rational, strategies and pathways for establishing personalized college rankings. In order to analyze the gap between students' preferences and university presidents'concerns over ranking indicators, HEEACT's "College Navigator in Taiwan" is adopted as a case study at the end of paper. (HRK / Abstract übernommen).