Global rankings at a local cost? The strategic pursuit of status and the third mission

ABSTRACT

This study examined how hierarchical positions within the global field of higher education influence the selection of strategic priorities by universities in different parts of the world. The study particularly focused on universities’ commitment to third missions as reflected in their strategic plans and compared to their global rankings. The findings demonstrate that top globally ranked institutions are generally less explicit about their commitment to the third mission relating to their geographic setting compared to mid/low and unranked institutions. Meanwhile, unranked institutions most consistently exhibit strategies in contributing to the local economy, recognising their local challenges and environment, and working for the benefit of their local community. This study informs debates on the intention and extent of the public good and missions of universities in light of the increasing dependence on ranking schemes.

KEYWORDS:

• Strategic planning
• rankings
• international higher education
• third mission

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Dr Jenny J. Lee is a professor in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona. Her research have included organisational behaviours, community outreach, and international student mobility and their experiences in the US as well as abroad.

Hillary Vance is a PhD candidate in higher education at the University of Arizona. She is UA’s Senior Director for Southeast Asia, based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Her research interests are related to international and transnational higher education, especially in Southeast Asia.

Dr Bjørn Stensaker is a professor of higher education at University of Oslo, Norway. His research interests are related to studies of governance, reform and organisational change. He has published widely on these and related issues in a range of journals and book series.

Dr Sowmya Ghosh is researcher at the University of Arizona. Her research program focuses on identifying strategies that global universities use to stimulate and commit to interdisciplinary research (IDR), with an emphasis on the ways that universities generate new knowledge through IDR by analyzing global institutions research output.

Notes

1 Indonesian government promoted ideology promoting nationalism over differences in religion and culture (Esposito 2018).