An Empirical Study on Credibility of China's University Rankings: A Case Study of Three Rankings

A university ranking with credibility may provide proper guidance to students and parents in university choice, lead to rational flow of educational resources, promote competition among universities and evaluation mechanism in society, and inform the government in decision making. However, there are quite some disputes and doubts from the public about university rankings published by the non-government-related institutions. How credible is the import of university rankings into the Chinese context? The existing literature tends to make theoretical analyses of the problems with university rankings and propose measures for improvement. This study, written from an empirical perspective, examines three representative university rankings in China--Guangdong Academy of Management Science (GAMS), netbig.com (NETBIG), and China University Alumni Association (CUAA)--in an attempt to appraise the credibility of China's university rankings and provide a direction for the enhancement of credibility of university rankings. This study on credibility of university rankings consists of the following procedures: survey design, selection and sampling of the population, survey distribution and collection, examination of credibility and validity of the survey, and data analysis. From the findings, none of the three rankings enjoys very high credibility. Compared with the authoritative rankings by "U.S. News and World Report" in the United States, the credibility of university rankings in China calls for urgent attention. At present, the dimensions and items included in the survey instrument may provide some thought on how to enhance the credibility of university rankings. Meanwhile, individuals should take in and draw upon the successful experience of university rankings in the United States and combine it with the context of China. (Contains 4 tables.)