Tag: timeshighereducation

“Speak Because You Can”…Act Because You Should

News that the Taliban have “..banned women from universities in Afghanistan” has been condemned by the UN Security Council and many other countries.  US Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken said, “The Taliban cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all in Afghanistan.”  We wait to see whether the board of Times Higher Education (THE) makes a statement1 or chooses to impose any prohibition on Afghan universities in its rankings.

It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World2

Bologna Topco Ltd, the parent company of THE World Universities Insights Ltd, Data HE Ltd, The Knowledge Partnership and BMI Global Ed Ltd does not have a single female director.  This lack of diversity was noted as far back as May 2021 following a presentation by owners Inflexion Private Equity but nearly two years later it’s the same names and faces in charge.  Any action could come down to whether two men who have quietly become among the most powerful and influential in higher education think there is a duty to stand up for the rights of women.

THE World Universities Insights Ltd is the parent company’s main trading entity and has two directors – Paul Howarth and Paul Ransley (who also sit as directors on Bologna Topco).  Since 2020 it has been the vehicle for purchasing data analytics company dataHE, student recruitment event operator BMI Global Ed, HE consultancy The Knowledge Partnership – with each company purchased having the same two directors.  Adding the purchase of InsideHE in early 2022 has, arguably, given Howarth and Ransley unprecedented power to form opinion and control data in global higher education3.

Some will claim there is editorial independence but Howarth’s statement about a response to the “invasion of Ukraine by Russia” shows the symbiotic link between the rankings, the news outlet and the other businesses.  InsideHE has run two THE led opinion pieces (28 April and 12 October) on rankings since being acquired earlier this year which might suggest the penumbra of Rupert Murdoch style influence.  It’s an intricate web so it is appropriate to suggest that, “with great power comes great responsibility” and the THE should both speak up and act.         

What’s Up?4

The THE methodology clearly “reserves the right to exclude universities that ….are no longer in good standing.”  Regrettably, decision makers at THE obviously do not think that Russian institutions explicitly supporting a brutal, rapacious, illegal attack on a neighbouring country is grounds for losing “good standing”.  One might hope that the complete exclusion of women from higher education presents good grounds for immediate action.

While no Afghan universities have made it to the World University Rankings 2023 the Impact Rankings provide fertile ground for manipulation as institutions can choose which of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to focus on.  Bakhtar University and Kabul Polytechnic University rank with around 650 other universities on a ranking of 1001+ in the most recent Impact Rankings with other Afghan universities featuring in 2020 and 2021.  One of the four scoring categories for Bakhtar University is the individual SDG measure 5 – Gender Equality, which the THE notes, “SDG itself phrases…explicitly as supporting women”.

The need for an intentional and purposeful ban is urgent because the data used in compiling the rankings are substantially self-selected by the institution and up to two years out of date.  For example, the April 2022 Impact Rankings were, at best, using data from December 2020 but it may have come from January 2019.  Universities also choose which three SDGs to provide information for (with only SDG 17 obligatory) which is probably why no Russian universities chose SDG 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions for their 2022 entries.

Laugh It Off5

We may be best not to hold our breath on the THE standing up for women’s rights.  One part of the reasoning from Paul Howarth, chief executive, not to exclude Russian universities from THE rankings was that, “we would expect Russian universities’ performance to be impacted negatively by the actions of the Russian government.”  Those who understand the ranking considered that statement to be dubious, detached and likely ill-founded at the time and they have been proved correct.

More Russian universities were featured in the latest THE World Rankings 2023 (103) than the equivalent for 2022 (100) with more in the top 800 (14) than the year before (12).  While the top university, Lomonosov State University dropped by five places the chart below shows that year on year it did much better than several non-Russian institutions with similar ranking in 2022.  The overall volatility shows the complete nonsense of the university rankings but also the vacuousness of the chief executive’s stated expectation.

University THE World Ranking 2022THE World Ranking 2023Year on Year Rise(+)/Decline(-)
Wuhan157173-16
Aberdeen158192-34
Colorado Boulder158148+10
Lomonosov158163-5
Catholique de Louvain162170-8
Durham162198-36
Ottawa162137+25
SUSTech162166-4

The publicity value for Russia is even greater in the THE Impact Rankings where the number of Russian universities listed increased by 25.3% from 75 in 2021 to 94 in 2022.  In the latest THE Reputation Rankings the number of Russian university also increased, year on year, from five to six with the top ranked institution rising from 38 to 35.  By any objective measure the THE Rankings appears to continue to reward Russian universities and the Russian government that supports them as a tool for credibility and prestige.

Which Side Are You On?6

University ranking businesses like THE and QS World University Rankings and service providers like Study Portals seem willing to continue promoting universities that accept or even actively support repressive regimes.  While other commercial businesses have taken direct financial hits from withdrawing their involvement in Russia the rankers and recruiters continue to promote them even at the possible expense of students being drawn into the armed conflict.  The rankers may prefer to prevaricate or to ignore Russia’s actions but drawing a line in the sand over something as fundamental as women being allowed to study in higher education should be a simple decision. 

Notes

The home page of the viewfromabridge blog includes a quote from a DACA recipient.  The full quote is, “Speak because it’s your life, speak because you can”, which should remind everyone who has the freedom to comment that they should speak up for those who are repressed, endangered or unable to represent themselves.  If you have the power you should also take action on their behalf.

The sub-headings are all titles from songs written wholly or mainly by women.  

  1. As far as I can find in a search the Times Higher Education has published one news item by Pola Lem on this issue (21 December).  No Opinion Piece has been published or statement made by the organization.
  2. Betty Jean Newsome was co-writer of this song, made famous by co-writer James Brown, and is credited with the lyrics by most sources.  For all the macho posturing it’s worth listening to the end of the song “He’s lost in the wilderness, He’s lost in bitterness, he’s lost lost”
  3. In addition to the direct control listed Times Higher Education has partnerships with companies including Study Portals (student aggregator), SI-UK (student recruiter), Liberika (student aggregator) and Casita (student accommodation provider).  A previous blog has noted the role of Study Portals in encouraging students visiting THE Student to apply to universities in Russia.
  4. Performed by 4 Non Blondes and written by lead singer, Linda Perry.  On the backstorysong.com  podcast she comments on the song, “It’s like, ‘Why does it always seem like either I’m struggling, or there’s some f–king political mess happening? Why is this all happening in the world?’’  Under some circumstances who wouldn’t “pray every single day, for revolution”?
  5. Laugh It Off is by Russian feminist protest and performance art group Pussy Riot.  It is reported   that Pussy Riot are currently touring Europe and demonstrating solidarity with Ukraine.  Readers will make up their own mind about the group’s philosophy, tactics and messages but it is difficult to disregard their commitment and their bravery in challenging a “political system that uses its power against basic human rights.”
  6. “Which Side Are You On?” is always a good question.  The song was written in the 1930s by Florence Reece in response to intimidation by the Harlan County Coal Operators’ Association and the sheriff’s department, led by Sheriff J.H. Blair, who acted as its enforcers. Sometimes you have to make a choice.

Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay

The image is of a statue in Parliament Square, London, which honours the British suffragist leader and social campaigner, Dame Millicent Fawcett. The statue, erected in 2018, was Parliament Square’s first monument to a woman and also its first sculpture by a woman.

Matryoshka Dolls for THE and Study Portals

The Times Higher Education made a big play about “solidarity with Ukraine, and our rejection of Russia’s aggression” back on 2 March, 2022 and said they will keep the situation under constant review.  Despite all that has happened since then nothing seems to have changed in the THE response and they continue to promote Russian universities in their current league tables.  They seem to have taken no action at all to reduce the THE Student promotion of Russian universities with detailed information about the institutions being routed through their partner in inaction Study Portals.

It’s a little like a Matryoshka (commonly known as Russian) Doll where the parts are nested inside each other so you can’t see the entire thing at once. The start is when a student searches on the THE Student site and finds that there are 359 courses in the Russian Federation and they are all given equal prominence to any other course.

The curious student clicks a specific course, say on Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and finds that they can study this in Russia.  The neat trick is that they have to go off to the Study Portals site to pursue their enquiries so THE can presumably say it is not having specific publicity about the institution on its site. 

A month or so ago Study Portals said it was “terrified and upset at our core seeing the war in Ukraine unfold” but was cautious to not say anything about taking action to even reduce the prominence of Russian universities on its website.  So here is the link from THE Student promoting study at Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU).

It probably goes without saying that Andrey I. Rudskoy, Rector of the University is one of the signatories to the infamous statement from the Russian Union of Rectors saying it is “..very important these days to support our country, our army, which defends our security, to support our President…”

Rector Rudskoy also comments in an interview that league table rankings are “a marketing tool for attracting external audiences and working with academic reputation”.  His position echoes that of the Russian government in their desire for credibility and prestige through rankings. So it is no real surprise to see Study Portals focus on its rankings position.

And then the whole circle becomes complete with the list of league table rankings which Study Portals will be able to continue even if the Ukraine war goes on until next year because the THE are doing nothing to suspend Russian universities from their rankings. QS and US News and World Report also continue to promote the institutions.

To compound matters Study Portals has no compunction about promoting Russia as a study destination.

The page goes on to tell us about Russians who have become globally famous. “From athletes like Anna Kournikova and Maria Sharapova, to composers like Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, or Shostakovich, to great authors like Nabokov, and Dostoyevsky (and all other “-evsky”s, and “-ov”s and “-ova”s), Russia gave us of the most influential people in history.” 

Sharp eyed observers will note that of the two living people one became a US citizen in 2010 and the other has lived in the US since she was seven.  The others are all dead and there is a conspicuous failure to mention the Russian who is the most globally influential and notorious at the current time. The word omission in the sentence probably reflects the care and attention to detail but does nothing to hide the flimsiness of the insight.

That’s it really.  There are no notes on any of the pages to suggest that students might be wary of attending a country where they can be carted off to jail for using the world “war”.  No reflection of the “assault on academic freedom” in Russia has accelerated in recent years with universities having their licenses suspended, students expelled, Government control of foreign academic collaboration and prevented academics attending international conferences.

Matryoshka dolls are often carved to reflect a theme and embody the concept of an idea within an idea. The idea that THE Student and Study Portals seem to be capturing is that everything is normal and there is no reason to raise realities or suggest that anything is amiss. That seems quite wrong.

THE Big Issue

A picture of the Board of Times Higher Education (THE) has been doing the Twitter rounds and attracting attention because of its lack of diversity*.  THE has been part of the higher education landscape since 1973 but since 2012 has developed its role as a provider of league tables on a plethora of issues.  It’s developing combination of data services, branding and hiring services saw it  bought by Inflexion Private Equity in 2019.

Much of the chatter on Twitter has simply posted the picture and danced around the implications for a business that claims to generate 320,000 online page views and visits from 2.8m “…academics, university leaders, students and their families” each month.  These are big numbers and THE’s intention to exploit the data generated was made clear by its Chief Development Officer in recent reporting in the PIE and elsewhere.  For an organization holding that much potential power and authority in higher education there is arguably a responsibility to consider positive steps on diversity, equity and inclusion at Board level.  

This is particularly so when THE has made a great deal of its latest Impact Rankings league table judging universities around the world on their commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  It may be worth the Board considering Goal 5 – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.  Target 5.5 sums it up by saying – “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life”

Several other Development Goals imply a wider consideration of equity, diversity and inclusion but Goal 10 focuses on reducing inequality within and among countries.  Specifically, target 10.2 says “..empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.”  Even Blackrock, possibly the world’s largest asset manager, has commented “..we expect companies in all countries to have a talent strategy that allows them to draw on the fullest set of talent possible,”

THE operates as part of Bologna Topco Limited which may be a slightly inside joke about the University of Bologna’s claim to being Europe’s oldest university having been founded in 1088.  Or possibly the  Bologna Process signed in 1999 to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher-education qualifications across Europe.  It’s worth considering the Statement of the Fifth Bologna Policy Forum to see the commitment to fair access both in higher education and employment.

As one would expect of any company Bologna Topco Limited the Director’s Report contains some fine words on issues of equal opportunities.  However, they are placed, even in the revised version of the Annual Report under the heading – Employment of Disabled Persons – which might suggest that insufficient attention is being paid to what this might really mean.  None of this is intended to suggest a lack of sincerity in the Board’s thinking but attention to detail and action are equally important.

Good intentions may have been captured in the inaugural THE Live session with HSBC UK that asked: “What action do we need to take to ensure that every voice is represented at a senior level?”.  For reference the HSBC UK board membership is available and people can make up their own mind about it but their policies and targets on inclusion and diversity seem clear. But searching the THE site does not provide much detail on their own approach or ambitions in this area.

Universities have come under significant pressure to increase diversity in their senior academic and administrative ranks for many years.  It is particularly ironic in the current context that the THE Student noted on International Women’s Day this year that “It is striking that still only a few of the world’s top universities are led by women.”  It’s World University Rankings showed that only 41 of the top 200 universities were run by women.

It may be time for universities to do their own due diligence on the way that THE is reflecting the need for greater diversity and inclusivity.  There is the potential for a powerful, united approach, perhaps led by UUK and the NUS, to put pressure on THE to begin to reflect at Board level the drive for equity, inclusion and diversity that is holding so much of the world’s attention.  It is the brands, reputation and attention of universities that hold the key to THE’s future and that power should be exercised for good purposes.        

*For colleagues not on Twitter this is the picture that was circulating.  I would be happy to credit the copyright holder if provided with authoritative details.  The Board membership is the same as the Active Director list for Bologna Topco Limited at Companies House in the UK.

It is reasonable to note that Ms Fabrizia Rizzi was a non-executive director of THE for three months (according to her LinkedIn profile) from February 2021 until her resignation in April 2021.  At the time she was an Assistant Director of Inflexion but moved on to another company in May 2021.

  Title image by Joshua Woroniecki from Pixabay