Rankings, Governance, and Attractiveness of Higher Education: The New French Context

Abstract

We would like to show how the French higher education landscape is being influenced by international ranking, particularly that provided by the team at Jiao Tong University – the Shanghai Ranking – by considering the reactions of French institutions. Examining the interactions between rankings, governance, and attractiveness will lead us to question the definition of a ‘world‐class university’ in the French context: in particular, what strategies institutions influenced by the Shanghai Ranking are implementing to improve their international visibility, oriented in this sense by our new government. We will look in passing at the reasons why the Shanghai Ranking has now become indispensable, despite the weakness of some of its indicators. More generally, we will emphasise the fact that giving it the importance that some institution strategies do, with the sole aim of reaching the top, can be harmful to the ranking itself.