The Dutch university has opted out of the Times Higher Education league table this year, adding further momentum to the research assessment reform movement that is pushing for universities and researchers to be judged on quality not quantity
Utrecht University’s withdrawal from the THE world rankings list comes after talks with a national expert group in the Netherlands on the use of rankings and signing up to More Than Our Rank, a movement aimed at rethinking the use of rankings.
The debate on university rankings in Europe is linked to moves to reform how research and researchers are assessed. Last year in July, an agreement was drafted with the goal of placing less emphasis on metrics such as number of papers published and impact factors. The reform is spearheaded by the European University Association (EUA), the funding agencies represented by Science Europe and by the European Commission.
Quantitative metrics are commonly used by global ranking organisations. For example, research quality – measuring citation impact, research strength, excellence and influence – makes up 30% of a university’s score in THE World University Ranking.