USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: NigerianID | RE: {Yan Arewa} Ibadan makes THE's Top 800 Universities Ranking - As World University Rankings 2015-2016: results announced

Philip -

Thanks for reacting to VC Aluko's posting. I have not read the whole report relating to this rating, and so my own comments are going to be more generic than specific. I crave your indulgence on that. Having said that, kindly be aware of these: 

1. I am also surprised that University of Chicago did not make the cut (of the first 10), not so much because of its past accomplishments, but because of what it does now. I say 100% the same about Yale (my old school); this point naturally embraces my next point;

2. Every ranking has its own range of biases, even including the much-acclaimed awards like the Nobel Laurel, as the ranking committee has its own criteria; it is never jaundice-proof. Anything and anyone that falls outside those criteria will not make the cut; I appreciate the six criteria on which these particular ratings were generated, but there are a thousand and one other criteria that could eliminate some of the ranked 800 and bring in scores of others;

3. This process of ranking usually does not necessarily follow longevity, and so although UI was the only institution some of us knew growing up, if the criteria that made it high and mighty in those days were not maintained or if other "younger" institutions in Africa came up with bigger and better criteria, they have to leave our dear UI (former UCI) behind;

4. And having said that, and without contradicting my last point, many of these high ranking universities have been in existence before Nigeria became a nation. University of Ibadan did not come into existence until 1948 and it was as a campus of the University College of London. In fact, University of Nigeria, Nsukka is technically and legally the first indigenous university of Nigeria, yet it was founded in the mid-1950s. Take the American universities in the first 10 group for instance, MIT and CIT are probably the youngest, and I bet neither one of them was founded in the 20th century. Their endowments are much higher than all of many African countries combined and the space at which they do research is unbelievable - I can't see teaching as that great in those institutions; and

5. Sorry, Bola Tinubu DID NOT go to the University of Chicago; he attended Chicago State University. As a former administrator of Illinois State higher education institutions, I can say with authority that taking U of Chicago for Chicago State University is like taking the University of Ibadan for the Community College of Sabo, Ibadan (if it exists) - they are light years apart. 

In all, I care less about ratings - its the nature of constructivist pedalogy in me. I appreciate the fact that in a way, they challenge institutions and give us something to read and talk about, yet, without minimizing the elite schools, I would rather see graduates of Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, making a headway in life and impacting the world and lives than graduates of Oxford, Yale, Chicago, etc., amassing Nobel laurels and making names for themselves and themselves alone. I have seen students and instructors of a technical college in my state of Illinois who combined efforts to go and rescue refugees children in war-torn areas of the world. In my book, that is a number one institution - not Oxford. The old Latin phrase, "Pro Deo et Humanitate" (For God and Humanity) sounds better in my ears and judgment than "optimum est omnia" (the best is everything)! And of course, that underscores my earlier Point #2; my single criterion has eliminated almost all 800, replacing them by a single two-year community college in a remote community of Illinois. It makes sense to me. It does!

Michael O. Afolayan

From the Land of Lincoln

On Thursday, October 1, 2015 8:42 AM, "Philip Achusim pachusim@yahoo.com [NigerianID]" <NigerianID-noreply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

VC Aluko: University of Chicago should rank much higher than 10. Don't forget the atomic bomb was born there and no other school in the world has bagged as many Nobel prizes as University of Chicago, which is quite different from the University In Chicago that Tinubu attended. I am surprised that Yale did not make the list. On Ibadan, I am surprised that it was not ranked higher in Africa. When I was growing up many moons ago, Ibadan was the University that every Nigerian dreamed of. I never dreamed of going to any university because the money was not there for me to go to any university. Ibadan had status. I went to higher school instead. But as fate would have it ASPAU came calling. My teacher in higher school was a graduate of University of Ibadan. He wrote my recommendation letter. In the scholarship interview in Lagos, his professor at University of Ibadan was on the interview panel and he let me know that my teacher was his student. And mind you, I am older than Buhari. What I am struggling to narrate here is that University of Ibadan should have deserved to be ranked higher in Africa. When Nigerians of my era were craving and dreaming to be admitted to the University of Ibadan, going to any other university in Africa outside of Nigeria was not an option. University of Ibadan was the school. So what happened that a university in South Africa is being ranked higher than UNN, let alone University of Ibadan? What happened? Did you know that no one admitted to University of Ibadan ever chose to go to another University in Nigeria or Africa? I was expecting more from everything Nigerian than I am getting. University of Ibadan should be First in Nigeria, and First in Africa. And I am Ezeana Achusim Odi-Isaa Nwa Dim Orioha AKA Onyeukwu. Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone On Sep 30, 2015, 9:08:57 PM, Mobolaji Aluko alukome@gmail.com [YanArewa] wrote: First (and only ranked) In Nigeria First in Africa First in the World First in Europe First in Asia TOP TEN World University Rankings 2015-2016: top 10 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/world-university-rankings-2015-2016-results-announced ________________________________ World University Rankings 2015-2016: results announced US continues to lose its grip as institutions in Europe up their game September 30 2015 Facebook Share Twitter LinkedIn Source: Peter Grundy The world dominance of universities in the US has further waned in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-2016, despite the fact that the country boasts almost a fifth of institutions in the table. A total of 147 US universities feature in the top 800 – the largest THE rankings to date – including the California Institute of Technology, which claims pole position for the fifth consecutive year. However, there are signs of decline for the traditional Western powerhouse lower down in the table. The US now has 63 universities in the top 200, down from 74 last year, and 77 the year before. Six of these make the top 10, compared with seven last year; after Caltech, these are: Stanford (third), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (fifth),Harvard (sixth - its first time outside the top four in the rankings' 12-year history), Princeton (seventh) and theUniversity of Chicago (10th). The UK's universities of Oxford (second), Cambridge (fourth) and Imperial College London (eighth), and Switzerland's ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ninth) fill the rest of the top 10. Phil Baty, THE rankings editor, said that the US' movement is to some degree owing to significant improvements to the rankings' data sources this year, with "improved coverage of research not published in English and a better geographical spread of responses to our academic reputation survey". However, he added that it also demonstrates that the US' leading status as the world's top magnet for academic and student talent "cannot be taken for granted", citing figures that show that 47 states in the US have implemented higher education funding cuts since the global recession in 2008. World University Rankings 2015-2016: top 10 Simon Marginson, professor of international higher education at the UCL Institute of Education, said that US research is "not declining in the absolute sense", but rather "other countries are improving and crowding into the top 200 space". One of these competitor nations is the UK, which has improved its standing this year. A total of 78 UK institutions feature in the top 800, with 34 of these sitting in the first quarter, up from 29 last year. Other countries in Europe have also performed well. Germany has 20 universities in the top 200, a rise of eight since last year, while the Netherlands has 12 in the first quarter, up from 11. Meanwhile, Switzerland's ETH Zurich is the first non-Anglo-American institution to make the top 10 for a decade. Overall, Europe has 345 universities in the world top 800, meaning its institutions comprise more than two-fifths of the table. Professor Marginson said that the results reveal that "15 years of consolidation of higher education, in the Nordic countries, the Low Countries and German-speaking world, is now bearing fruit". In particular, he cited national programmes to foster research concentrations, the European Research Area grant programmes, the Bologna-instigated reforms, and "carefully managed immigration policies that decouple high-talent recruitment from other forms of migration" as strategies that have improved their university systems. Top universities by region "Europe appears to be becoming more competitive at postdoctoral stage – the point where the US has long been overwhelmingly dominant in global flows of talent," he added. However, he warned that the UK's position in the rankings may decline "over a decade or so" if it continues to be "semi-paralysed by immigration policies", while an exit from the European Union would have "sharper, earlier effects". "Research depends on the free movement of both ideas and people, and countries that adopt a more closed stance pay the price in the end. This is a prime cause of the substantial long-term declines in the global position of research in both Japan and Russia," he said. Overall, institutions from 70 countries, 29 more than last year, feature in this year's rankings, with several countries including Indonesia, Bangladesh and Kenya being represented for the first time. The THE World University Rankings use 13 performance indicators to examine universities' strengths. View the full methodology, along with the World University Rankings 2015-2016 top 800. ellie.bothwell@tesglobal.com Listen to the World University Rankings 2015-2016 podcast Asia gains new number one The National University of Singapore is the number one institution in Asia – the first time the city-state has claimed the continent's top spot in the rankings' 12-year history. NUS is in 26th position overall in the rankings, with the next highest Asian institutions – China's Peking Universityand Japan's University of Tokyo – taking 42nd and 43rd place respectively. Overall, this year's rankings results provide a mixed picture for Asia; while China's performance remains steady, with the country claiming 37 institutions in the top 800, including two in the elite top 50, Japan and South Korea have both fallen down the list. Japan has just two institutions in the world top 200, compared with five last year, while South Korea has just one in the top 100, down from three. But despite its diminishing performance, Japan still has strength in depth: it is third place in the world in terms of the number of institutions represented, with 41 appearing in the top 800. "Tough times for Japan and disappointment for South Korea mean that leading Asian nations' grip on the higher ranks of the THE World University Rankings is loose," said Phil Baty, THE rankings editor. "Many institutions, particularly in East Asia, have been focusing heavily on attaining world-class status, backed with funding and powerful political will. But this ranking demonstrates how difficult a task this is, as universities right across the world continue to improve."

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Posted by: Philip Achusim <pachusim@yahoo.com>

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