tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4273139713770751485.post1563664239054975102..comments2024-03-27T14:43:28.040+05:30Comments on Musings of Dheeraj Sanghi: Limitations of RankingDheeraj Sanghihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06367519409840642182noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4273139713770751485.post-88829041098110102622015-10-10T16:42:58.268+05:302015-10-10T16:42:58.268+05:30Prof GB says "...they are not responsive to c...Prof GB says "...they are not responsive to correction of errors". It is not that bad. We have been seeing how Panjab University gets high rankings, mostly because of the high citations received by the papers published by large collaborations like at CERN. I complained about this when Nature put Panjab University at No. 1 in India (http://www.nature.com/news/india-by-the-numbers-1.17519 and my comment there). Nature invited me to formally submit a letter and this was published in June by Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v522/n7557/full/522419b.html, Nature 522, P 419). I don't know if this is the reason, but this year, two of the rankings have introduced a correction. In the citation metric, QS has removed papers that have more than 10 institutions in the author affiliations. THES (which used to rank Panjab University as No. 1 in India) has removed papers with more than 1000 authors from its metrics. There may be more such corrections possible.iitmsriramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16063826764366606345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4273139713770751485.post-37679492908022124742015-10-09T21:26:34.165+05:302015-10-09T21:26:34.165+05:30Dr. Barua, why would an accreditation system based...Dr. Barua, why would an accreditation system based on certain expected standards not be preferable ? The great philosophical problem with 'rankings' is the hierarchy implicit in it. And these hierarchies become embedded in the society's psyche and keep resurfacing throughout its life. <br /><br />And like I mentioned earlier, such rankings and hierarchies greatly dissuade experimentation and innovation, apart from those which will boost points in the parameters established by rankings. Vikramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15184698535624088994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4273139713770751485.post-34001806307614247522015-10-09T09:11:57.140+05:302015-10-09T09:11:57.140+05:30Given that rankings are here to stay, I think it i...Given that rankings are here to stay, I think it is a good idea to have an india based ranking. Unlike the private rankings which are geared towards UG students, these rankings hopefully will be more "rounded" and help sponsors and prospective faculty better understand where institutions stand. I agree a linear order is difficult to achieve, and is unfair for institutes close together, but, as I said, rankings are here to stay. If nothing else, it will put pressure on the centrally funded technical institutes (CFTIs) to perform (the proposed rankings are only for technical institutes I understand; other rankings will follow). Global ranking systems do not reveal enough information on how an institution has performed and they are not responsive to correction of errors. Based on how the global rankings are done, I feel our rankings must take into account the age of institutions, especially as there are so many "new" CFTIs. Thus, for an Institute which started in say 2008, there will be a big difference in numbers between a two year average and a five year average (for citations).gautam baruahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00395342178251076987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4273139713770751485.post-21639701321769600812015-10-02T21:41:52.587+05:302015-10-02T21:41:52.587+05:30Our PM likes to talk about 'minimum government...Our PM likes to talk about 'minimum government' but it seems that for him, it means not changing the appallingly low number of policemen, judges, bureaucrats, teachers and health workers we have per capita, and continue to let Indians suffer from the absence of public goods.<br /><br />Instead we have more flights from Air India, more government schemes and more government interference in education. <br /><br />The GoI, by setting rigid parameters for 'ranking' is dissuading creativity and flexibility among higher education institutions. Is there any incentive for a state government to support a university that offers unique and innovative programs now that they know that it will hurt what the government 'officially' thinks about it ?Vikramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15184698535624088994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4273139713770751485.post-1821232171630884322015-10-02T20:56:21.806+05:302015-10-02T20:56:21.806+05:30One more inherent problem rankings that you have a...One more inherent problem rankings that you have alluded to is Goodhart's Law: once a measure becomes a metric, it is not a good measure : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law <br /><br />In other words, the tendency to game the system. This is seen everywhere from US News Rankings (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/education/gaming-the-college-rankings.html), to software benchmarks (http://www.anandtech.com/show/7384/state-of-cheating-in-android-benchmarks), to the latest VW scandal.prasunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17550515401248304717noreply@blogger.com