Exploring the perspectives of academic and senior management staff on the influence of global university rankings in the higher education context of Kazakhstan

Abstract

Global university rankings (GURs) have gained popularity and practical importance in the last few decades as they are used as a proxy indicator of a university's reputation and quality by different stakeholders including governments, funders, and students. Deepening globalisation processes, competition between national university systems and demand for public organisations to be accountable and efficient have enhanced the role of GURs in higher education (HE). Although GURs are exposed to numerous critiques, including methodological limitations, they satisfy a demand for information about the quality of HE by making comparative assessments of thousands of universities globally and are becoming influential in decision-making pertaining to HE reforms and policymaking. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are eager to participate in GURs in building their global brand visibility and reputation, and in recruiting potential students.
The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and experiences of academic and senior management staff on the impact of GURs at a public university, one of the leading universities of Kazakhstan in major GURs. This study adopted a qualitative exploratory design that included interviews (N = 17) with academic and senior management staff. Institutional theory and a theory of academic imperialism guided the study and provided useful perspectives in explaining the behaviour of HEIs in response to GURs as well as the growing
hegemony of GURs in HE, especially in developing countries.
The findings suggest that participation in GURs has led to profound changes in the sampled university, especially in terms of the prioritisation of the research performance of HEIs. In particular, this study reveals that GURs play a significant role in Kazakhstan’s HEIs strategies to regulate research activities through accountability and incentivisation policies. The findings indicate that the university focused on improving its ranking position through pressure to publish and via performance-based incentives. However, these measures did not result in
improved research performance. The findings also revealed barriers to enhanced research performance, including limited English language proficiency, a tension between teaching and research, and insufficient funding of research. A major finding is that academics at the university under study employed various gaming techniques such as gift authorship, publishing in predatory journals and exploiting methodological limitations of GURs in order to raise “an impression” of research productivity. Institutional data indicated that HEIs in Kazakhstan mainly improved their ranking position through reputational indicators and the Faculty Student Ratio indicator while citation indicators, which could reflect research productivity, are consistently low across all HEIs. This study makes a timely contribution to understanding the impact of GURs on HEIs of Kazakhstan as a country with ambitious plans for developing its HE sector.

Date of Award	23 Jan 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Richard P Watermeyer (Supervisor) & Navin Kikabhai (Supervisor)