The performance of Irish universities in the QS international ranking is a cause for celebration but beware the fickleness of university league tables

Writing in The Irish Times, Ellen Hazelkorn and Tom Boland commented on the recent performance of Irish universities in the QS global rankings.

Any day that seven of our universities achieve improved positions in a major international ranking exercise (QS World University Rankings 2024) is a day for celebration and for congratulations to their leadership, students and staff. It reflects positively on the Irish (higher) education system as a whole.

This is all the more significant as our universities do not have the level of financial resources that universities in other major economies have, such as MIT in the US and Cambridge in the UK.  But while acknowledging what QS tells us – the good and not so good – we should adopt a high degree of caution which should not be interpreted by the universities as an effort to “rain on their parade”.

The best course for Ireland is to focus on what outcomes from higher education and research our economy and society need rather than chasing rankings. We can celebrate when this focus coincides with improved positions in international rankings, and factor in the latest “good” or “bad” rankings outcomes as one element in a more comprehensive assessment of higher education performance.

See full articles here and https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2023/07/03/what-do-university-performance-rankings-really-mean/

See Editorial in The Irish Times which draws on and references our article.