This chapter will review the dilemmas, promises and impact of university rankings and their relation to systems for the classification of different types of higher education institutions. It will be argued that rankings only make sense within defined groups of comparable institutions, in other words that classification is a prerequisite for sensible rankings. And that both rankings and classifications should be multidimensional in order to adequately reflect and sustain the diversity within higher education systems and institutions, while making this transparent at the same time. This will be discussed with a special focus on the European context, where the Bologna Process combines trends of convergence and diversity leading to the need for more transparency (see Chapter 3). A particular approach to ranking, developed by CHE,1 will be presented as a best-practice alternative to many of the shortcomings of conventional rankings. On the basis of cross-border pilot studies its potential for developing into a wider European system will be explored.
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Wende, M.v., Don, W. (2009). Rankings and Classifications: The Need for a Multidimensional Approach. In: van Vught, F. (eds) Mapping the Higher Education Landscape. Higher Education Dynamics, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2249-3_5
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