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3rd meeting of the International Rankings
Expert Group A Study of College Rankings in
Taiwan

• Angela, Yung-chi Hou, P.h. D.
• Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Higher
  Education,
• Tamkang University, Taiwan
• Associate Professor, Fu Jen Catholic University,
  Taiwan
• Research Fellow, Higher Education Evaluation
  Accreditation
• Council of Taiwan

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The trend of globalization in higher education

• intense international competition between
  universities.
• transparent information of higher education
  institutions.
• global college rankings have drawn international
  attention worldwide, including Taiwan.

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Development of college rankings in Taiwan

• National college rankings or league tables in
  Taiwan didnt draw the public attention until the
  90s.
• In the past 15 years, the total number of
  colleges and universities in Taiwan higher
  education has been growing dramatically up to
  150, which represents that higher education in
  Taiwan underwent the period of elite type and
  mass type, shifting to so- called the period of
  universal type now.
• the expansion of higher education, what was
  concerned more is if the quality of Taiwan higher
  education in quality has been improved equivalent
  to of the quantity.
• At the end of the 90s, some governmental
  agencies, media magazines and private
  institutions conducted some evaluations or
  rankings to respond the social demand, which had
  a great impact on student selectivity, resource
  allocation and self-improvement of colleges and
  universities in Taiwan.

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College and program rankings by Tamkang University

• The 2003 Academic Ranking of Universities in
  Taiwan conducted
• to understand the overall academic performance
  of Taiwan higher education institutions,
• used as a self-improvement for Tamkang
  University. In the consecutive 4 years,
• In 2004-2006, Engineering and Business Programs
  Rankings were published based on the indictors
  and weights of U.S. News World Report.
• In 2007, Following the new classification of
  higher education institutions in 2006 of Taiwan,
  the 2007 Academic Rankings of Universities in
  Taiwan was published in order to continue the
  previous ranking projects.

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Theme

• discusses the 2007 rankings of the 139
  universities in Taiwan based on the indictors and
  weights of the 2003 Academic Ranking of
  Universities in Taiwan to understand the overall
  quality of higher education institutions and the
  development of the national college rankings

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Purposes

• To fully understand the current situation of 139
  universities in Taiwan
• To disclose rankings with reliable research
  methods
• To poise college ranking as a reference for
  self-improvement of universities and colleges in
  Taiwan

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2003 Academic Ranking of Universities in Taiwan

• On June 2003, Center for Higher education of
  Tamkang University rated 43 colleges and
  universities
• Two categories
• Doctoral degree granting Universities and
  Masters Universities Colleges in the
  Classification of Higher Education Institutions
  in Taiwan Based on Carnegie Classification
  published in 2003.
• 13 criteria in 8 categories in accordance to the
  Americas Best Colleges by U.S. News and World
  Report.
• weighted at a certain ratio and the scores were
  aggregated to rank each college. The top one
  university received highest points while the
  scores for the remaining schools descended
  accordingly.

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2007 Academic Ranking of Universities in Taiwan

• Selection of institutions
• Data Collection
• Definition of Indicators
• Response Rate and Statistical Analysis Methods
• Ranking Outcomes

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Selection of institutions

• Two categories based on the 2007 Classification
  of Higher Education Institutions in Taiwan
• Doctorate-granting and Masters Colleges and
  Universities
• 19 universities in category of Doctorate-granting
  Universities,
• 57 in Masters Colleges and Universities,
• Baccalaureate Colleges
• 63 in Baccalaureate Colleges are selected as
  research subjects.

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Data Collection

• three sources in data collection
• Universities The Statistical Survey
• the data collection of the other 13 indicators.
• only asked to provide raw data instead of final
  calculated ones
• Governmental agencies
• Ministry of Education
• National Science Council
• ISI
• Academic survey
• The respondents include presidents, vice
  presidents, deans of academic affairs, general
  affairs, student affairs and R D, and dean of
  education school.
• The institutions will be evaluated on a 5-point
  scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished).

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Definition of Indicators

• Compared with the 2003 edition, there are some
  changes in the indictors and weights in the 2007
  college ranking in Taiwan
• The category of internationalization replaces
  digitalized environment. Two indictors, the
  number of international students and of foreign
  faculty, are adopted.
• Retention rate is deleted, and enrollment
  rate is included instead.
• The number of articles published per full- time
  faculty indexed in SCI, SSCI, AHCI, and EI is
  added in the category of research output.
• in Baccalaureate Colleges, the category of
  research output doesnt account for ranking
  indictors, so the weights in each category are
  readjusted.

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Response Rate and Statistical Analysis Methods

• Academic Survey
• 48.77
• Statistical Survey
• 70.18

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Scoring Procedures

• For each indicator, the highest scoring
  institution is assigned a score of 100, and other
  institutions are calculated as a percentage of
  the top score.
• Scores for each indicator are weighted to arrive
  at a final overall score for an institution.
• The highest scoring institution is ranked top
  one, and other institutions are rated in a
  descending order.

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Ranking OutcomesTable 9 Top 10 Doctorate-
Masters Universities and Colleges
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Ranking OutcomesTable 10 Top 10 Baccalaureate
Colleges
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Analysis of the 2007 Academic Rankings Doctorate
- Masters Universities and Colleges

• Top Five Institutions are in accordance with the
  views of the general public.

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Analysis of the 2007 Academic Rankings Doctorate
- Masters Universities and Colleges

• Public universities still have more financial
  resources and the gap between public and private
  institutions is widening rapidly.

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Analysis of the 2007 Academic Rankings Doctorate
- Masters Universities and Colleges

• Research output and faculty resources are
  significantly correlated.

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Analysis of the 2007 Academic Rankings Doctorate
- Masters Universities and Colleges

• Centralization and polarization are found in the
  indictors of papers publication and research
  funding.

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• 60 of NSC funds goes to the top 10 universities
  the difference between the top one and the last
  one in the category is 102 times
• the allocation of the funding in the Five-year
  50 Billion Educational Funding Project by
  Ministry of Education has in common, with more
  than 64.42 of the funding going to top 10
  universities

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Analysis of the 2007 Academic Rankings Doctorate
- Masters Universities and Colleges

• Data in graduation rate and enrollment rate
  has structural errors leading to low validity.

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Analysis of the 2007 Academic Rankings Doctorate
- Masters Universities and Colleges

• Internationalization remains low and is still on
  the developing stage.

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Analysis of the 2007 Academic Rankings
Baccalaureate Colleges

• Compared to Doctorate - Masters Universities,
  the academic reputation of the top five
  institutions in Baccalaureate Colleges is
  different from quantitative assessment.
• The main student body in most institutions mainly
  consists of undergraduates. The proportion of
  graduate students is still low.
• Financial Resources are generally below average
• Quality and quantity in faculty resources are
  uneven

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Suggestions and Comments

• The indicators and criteria will be necessarily
  readjusted and developed instead of large-scale
  change
• Data mining should be digitalized to construct a
  more complete database.
• A better methodology should be developed to
  assess academic performances of institutions more
  accurately
• A personalizes college ranking is suggested to be
  promoted in the future

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Concluding remarks

• With the collaborations between Tamkang
  University and Fu Jen University, the 2003 and
  2007 Academic Rankings of Universities in Taiwan
  were unprecedented cross-campus tasks.
• Although the ranking group encountered many
  problems and criticism, such as questionnaires
  returned, educational data collection,
  misunderstanding of the definitions of the
  indictors, deletion of several suitable criteria,
  and lack of support from governmental agencies
  and universities, etc., it did complete the first
  college ranking in Taiwan sponsored by the
  academic community.
• Despite difficulties and challenges in the
  process, college ranking is still a very
  controversial but worthwhile issue in Taiwan
  nowadays. However, it is expected that the
  quality of Taiwan higher education could be
  improved through the college ranking.

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Thank You for Listening

• Tamkang University
  http//www.tku.edu.tw/
• Fu Jen University
• http//www.fju.edu.tw/
• Higher Education Evaluation Accreditation
  Council of Taiwan
• http//www.heeact.org.tw/