Do university rankings matter?

Editor’s note: Renmin University of China, one of the top universities in the country, has stopped participating in international university rankings. Nanjing University and Lanzhou University have also withdrawn from international rankings. Nanjing University made it clear in its 14th Five-Year Plan Formulation the university would no longer consider overseas rankings a development target. Should Chinese universities use overseas rankings in education standards?

George

Overseas rankings can be used as a reference but not the only criterion of judging a college. The ranking, based on number of research papers published, sometimes leads to unfair competition. Some universities devote more of their scarce resources to research, neglecting other, arguably more important functions simply to rise in the rankings.