What is U-Multirank?
U-Multirank is a European ranking system whose basic aim is to provide transparency about the diversity of higher education institutions. Compared to other global rankings, U-Multirank provides information on a wide range of higher education institutions and enables the user to identify and compare institutions with similar profiles and missions.
The system looks at five dimensions: teaching & learning, research, knowledge transfer, international orientation and regional engagement. It combines institutional ranking (comparing whole institutions) and field-based rankings, based on individual disciplines. In contrast to other rankings, U-Multirank is user-driven: it leaves the decision on the relevance of individual indicators to users.
U-Multirank allows institutions to be assessed on a range of individual performance measures, with the performance groupings per measure ranging from “A” (very good) to “E” (weak). U-Multirank does not produce composite scores because there is no sound methodological justification for “adding up” the scores on diverse individual measures, or for weighting them to produce a single composite score as used in league tables. Therefore, it allows transparent comparisons and not an over-simplified league table. Based on empirical data, U-Multirank compares institutions with similar institutional profiles and allows users to develop personalized rankings by selecting performance measures/indicators in terms of their own preferences.
For more information about the U-Multirank system, please visit the website http://www.umultirank.org/
Other Key concepts
Ranking:
Ranking is a system whereby listings are produced which compare entire institutions, organisational performance, specific programmes or departments. Various ranking systems consider combinations of measures of wealth, research excellence and/or influence, selectivity, student options, eventual success, demographics, and other criteria. Some rankings evaluate institutions – whether they are national, regional, or global in scope – with the aim of providing information regarding their ability or achievement.
Benchmarking:
Benchmarking is an organisational process, which may be conducted either internally or externally, which aims to improve an organisation’s performance through learning about possible improvements of its primary and/or support processes by looking at these processes in other, better-performing organisations.
