Commission seeks to cut youth unemployment

UNIVERSITY RANKINGS

The European Commission wants to see a “fairer” global league table for universities, Vassiliou told European Voice.
The commissioner for education criticised existing league tables, such as that produced by Shanghai JiaTong university, for over-emphasising research and downplaying the “employability” of graduates. The Shanghai system is “one-sided because it is based on very limited criteria”, such as the number of Nobel Prize winners, she said, while other measures, such as teaching quality and the job prospects of students, are overlooked.
Vassiliou also thinks that current rankings unfairly penalise universities specialising in the humanities. “You cannot compare a university that has a technical direction to a university that is geared to the humanities,” she said.
The commissioner rejected the charge that the Commission wanted to change the system because European universities fare poorly in the rankings – only two European universities are featured in the world's top 20 universities according to the Shanghai Jia Tong table. “It is not simply that we feel the existing rankings are unfair to Europe. It is something that will be more fair and just for everybody.”
The Commission will present the results of a feasibility study to create a new university ranking system covering 110 global universities next year.