Rankings and relevance

Delegates from universities across the continent arrived at the University of Cape Town (UCT) with a mission: to co-create an African-informed ranking. UCT, as continental leader of several rankings, served as the perfect place to host the gathering – the All-Africa Rankings Initiative – alongside Applied Higher Education (AppliedHE).

The All-Africa Rankings Initiative does not begin with rankings – it begins with listening, collaboration and co-creation. On 31 August and 1 September, university leaders and various stakeholders met for the inaugural All-Africa Higher Education Xchange, now known as the AppliedEdu Xchange.

“Many of us know that while rankings matter – and they certainly do to us at UCT – we also know that they are not entirely inclusive. There has been much debate around them regarding their relevance today,” said Vice-Chancellor Professor Mosa Moshabela, as he welcomed policymakers, vice-chancellors, senior academics and students to the two-day gathering at the Southern Sun Hotel.

As an institution that sits at the intersection of several university alliances, Professor Moshabela said the question of relevance is one he is often confronted with. “How do we contend with the role of a university in the 21st century and the contribution it has to make? We know that the value attached to universities is how research intensive they are. The question we have been asking ourselves is how we can, as UCT, contribute better to the continent. If you are touted as a leading university, what then becomes your role on the continent? How do you deploy your assets and resources? This is a critical question for me to answer.”

The aim of the All-Africa Rankings Initiative is to capture, from African higher education leaders themselves, what excellence means in their context, what current rankings fail to see, and what can realistically be measured. This is done so that AppliedHE can build a ranking methodology that is fair, equitable, and recognises African excellence on African terms.

“I hope with the report that emerges from the gathering, I can be able to go to my stakeholders and say, ‘This is what our colleagues think we should be doing’. I’m hoping that we are successful in defining our mission, excellence and service to society,” Moshabela said.

This initiative is not about replacing existing rankings nor is it about creating different standards for Africa. Rather, it is about helping shape globally benchmarked measures that are also contextually relevant, while ensuring African perspectives contribute meaningfully to the future evolution of higher education worldwide.

Listen, question, challenge

“What makes this gathering meaningful is not how many people are in the room, but who is in the room and the different voices they bring with them,” said Mandy Mok, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of AppliedHE. “When AppliedHE started thinking about an all-Africa university ranking, we could have done what other university rankings traditionally do: we could have developed methodology, decided what matters, collected the data and then publish the results. But something did not feel right – how could we develop rankings for African universities without first asking African universities what excellence means to them?” she said.

“We were guided by the principle of, ‘Before we rank, we listen’. We have not gathered to agree on everything. We have gathered to listen, question, challenge and learn. We want to understand: What should excellence in higher education in Africa look like? What should be recognised and what are current rankings missing? These are some questions that should not be answered anywhere in the world on behalf of Africa, and that is why representation at the gathering is important because you get to shape what comes next.”

Emeritus Professor Crain Soudien gave a presentation on why rankings matter, what they miss and proposed alternative, contextual approaches to the topic. These include mission-based evaluations which consider history, mission and vision, as well as institutional context; teaching specific recognition; civic-engagement recognition, as well as research impact looking at cultural, social and economic effects of research.

These are guided by principles. “Judge quality in relation to mission, context and what commitments have been made. Next, treat excellence as plural and multidimensional; prioritise measures for student access, success and well-being. There must be a multidimensional framework for assessing research, quality, integrity and contribution,” said Emeritus Professor Soudien.

The other principles, Soudien added, are to regularly review approaches to thinking about innovation and relevance; centre the public value of teaching, research and engagement, and treating evaluation as developmental, transparent and non-punitive.