ICPP Research Seminar Series: Rankings, performance, and organizational status dynamics in higher education

by Dr Jelena Brankovic, Bielefeld University

Dr Jelena Brankovic a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University. Currently, she does research on the institutionalization of rankings within and across sectors. Her research lies in the domain of organizational sociology, transnational governance, and higher education studies.

Abstract

Nowadays, the dynamics of organizational status competition in higher education is considered to be inextricable from rankings. And while status distinctions between higher education institutions are usually acknowledged long historical roots, in Europe as well as elsewhere, rankings are typically treated as a more recent development. However, a closer observation of the history of rankings urges us to consider the possibility of a tighter historical entanglement between status dynamics and rankings, and its gradual progression over the course of the 20th century. Attending to the distinct yet interrelated histories of performance comparisons, their quantification, visualization, and publication—all of which are constitutive of rankings as we know them today (Ringel & Werron, 2017)—allows us to offer a fuller account of the interplay between organizational status dynamics and rankings, historically as well as in contemporary times. Crucially, it helps us arrive at a more productive understanding of some of the antecedents and consequences of the historical encroachment of rankings into higher education.