"Rankings are just the tip of the iceberg for what's going on in universities; we have to work hard so people know about what we're doing, to make quality and reputation visible" stated Ben Sowter today, representing the QS ranking, during the second session of the international conference on university reputation that is taking place at the University of Navarra. The conference was attended by over 300 people, representing 92 institutions with 48 speakers, all from 18 countries.

The expert took part in a round table discussion entitled "Critical analysis of international university ranking methodologies", moderated by Jan Sadlak, president of the Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence (IREG), also involving representatives from some of the most recognised international rankings such as Simon Chan (Times Higher Education), Gero Federkeil (U-Multirank), Yan Wu (Shanghai Jiao Tong) and Isidro Aguillo (Webometrics).

Jan Sadlak opened the debate by saying that reputation is the most controversial indicator in the rankings: "It is very difficult to compress something intangible into a figure." In addition, he explained some of the problems and, at the same time, the challenges that crop up: "The majority of them are based on elite universities essentially focussed on research; they usually ignore the arts, humanities and social sciences; there is a lack of transparency in handling data; they are mainly based on reputation surveys; and they rely excessively on publications in English."

Rankings help to improve reputation

In turn, Simon Chan explained the scope and methodology of Times Higher Education, featuring the 400 main universities in the world according to 15 indicators, and he commented that this ranking "makes a comparison taking into account not only a university's success but also its funding and how it attracts the best teachers and students". In his opinion, "there can be no doubt nowadays that rankings will continue to help improve the reputation of universities."

According to Gero Federkeil, "the U-Multirank is superior to other rankings because its methodology is multidimensional, with 30 indicators and 5 dimensions. The aim is to represent diversity in universities, not only the 3-5% of schools that focus on research on a worldwide scale, making other issues visible such as teaching, knowledge transfer, implication at a national level, etc."

Subsequently, Yan Wu explained the Shanghai ranking that compiles the 1200 best universities in the world that focus on research. "We use a stable methodology. We focus on objective factors and our ranking is top for global universities with multiple indicators. We are going to maintain this consistent methodology so it can continue to be used as a benchmark. However, we are going to include some improvements such as more classifications per subject, more scientific prizes, publication of books and internationally renown former students, among others."

Finally, Isidro Aguillo explained that Webometrics covered 24,000 universities and higher education institutions throughout the world. "It aims to promote open access, for example via transparency in governance. Rankings should not be user manuals or reflect a single model, although it's true that they have had very little influence on the university community. The only impact that they have is on university mergers," the expert criticised.

Reputation reveals whether the social function is being met

"Reputation is deserved, a consequence of doing things rights (quality) maintained over time that is made visible and that is perceived and it generates authority and security," stated Pilar Lostao today, as vice-president of International Relations at the University of Navarra; she spoke on "Processes for strategic quality management".

As she explained, strategic reputation management can be divided into three phases: knowing, deciding and innovating. "If the function of the university is to train highly qualified and responsible citizens who participate actively in society, and promote, generate and spread knowledge, the university has to be transforming," she assured the audience. "The university has a clear social function," she added, "and reputation reveals whether this social function is being met. To do this, the role of whoever governs the university is to manage reputation."

The conference is supported by institutions such as CRUE, Universia, the European Foundation for Society and Education, Corporate Excellence, CASE, the British Council, World 100 Reputation Network and DIRCOM. The position paper was given by sociologists Víctor Pérez-Díaz and Juan Carlos Rodríguez; University Professor Pérez-Díaz received the National Sociology and Political Science Award this year.