Abstract
Abstract : Competition between universities has intensified with the rise and expansion of Higher Education Ranking Systems (HERS). Many researchers agree that the HERS, and the publication of annual rankings, has influenced all participating institutions to some extent (Espeland & Sauder, 2015; Hazelkorn & Ryan, 2013; Rauvargers, 2013). This study was designed to investigate these influences as perceived by institutional leaders. The objectives of the study were to identify the various influences HERS exert on universities, and compares the extent to which institutional leaders from South Africa, South East Asia, Australia and the Arab Gulf experience these influences. The literature review includes discussions on the flow of international higher education, global phenomena like internationalisation, marketisation and an increased demand for higher education, and how these contributed to the development of HERS. The literature review contains an in-depth analysis of the big-three rankings (QS WUR, THE WUR and the Shanghai Ranking ARWU), and a discussion on the economic, cultural and political push and pull of the global knowledge economy. To identify and compare the influences of HERS on universities, the researcher employed a sequential mixed method study design, opting to conduct a qualitative exploration prior to a quantitative examination. The qualitative phase involved interviews with 25 institutional leaders to identify the numerous ranking-related influences on universities. The researcher employed two cycles of emergent coding to uncover the themes and categories within the interviews. In the second phase of the study, the themes and categories informed the development of a 65-item questionnaire to test the emergent aspects on a wider audience (86 international respondents). The questionnaire results confirmed the majority of the items underpinning the themes and categories. The third phase employs a mixture of quantitative and qualitative information to compare experiences from institutional leaders in South Africa, Arabian Gulf, Australia and South East Asia. The outcomes were presented in four exemplar case studies, featuring the results of nonparametric statistical analyses (Kruskal Wallis and Dunn Bonferonni), regional-specific comments and contextual literature...
Ph.D. (Education Leadership and Management)