The University of the South Pacific says the ABC’s reporting that USP’s claim of being in the top 10 percent is a cheap marketing gimmick not only discredits a regional university with a rich history of producing leaders and change-makers across the region and beyond for over 50 years but has also caused reputational risk to their many researchers, staff and students who have worked tirelessly to see this dream come true.
USP’s Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education, Professor Jito Vanualailai says by not mentioning some of the universities in the USA, NZ and Australia which use the same type of proclamation, there appears to be discrimination on ABC’s part towards USP.
He also says that you might have noticed that USP’s advertisements carry a footnote that explains their source, Times Higher Education ranking World University Rankings 2022 and 2020 International Handbook of Universities.
Vanualailai says the current edition suggests that there are about 20,000 universities globally, so their position using the two references would have them in the top 10 percent of universities.
He says this means a Times Higher Education ranking of 1001 to 1200 is between the top 3 to 5 percent depending on which source is used.
Vanualailai says for the purpose of their marketing, they have referred to the more conservative earlier source and “claimed” 10 percent rather than the top 5 percent, which many academics from around the world have written to him to correct.
He says had ABC contacted them for an interview in the interest of fair reporting before the broadcast, he would have been more than happy to explain this to them. However Vanualailai says the broadcast might not have been as sensational as intended.
Vanualailai also says the USP has been inundated with well-wishes from across the world, including Pacific neighbours Australia and New Zealand but none so proud as the leaders of the Pacific nations, who have been part of the making of this great University and have seen the fall and rise, sweat, blood and tears that have gone into creating a formidable regional institution that has stood the test of times and is facing one of the most challenging times in history, yet has managed to shine a silver line through the clouds.
He says this is the first time in 53 years that they have broken into the Times Higher Education ranking.
He says that itself is a reason to celebrate, and the USP is now amongst the top 400 universities of the world for International Outlook and the top 500 for Industry Income.
Vanualailai says this is by any standards a remarkable achievement and even more significant given our developing world context.
He also says USP’s highly acclaimed academics, including their four academics named amongst the top 2 percent of most influential scientists by Stanford University, strong partnerships, collaborative performance and research-intensive nature reflects the high scores achieved.
Vanualailai also says despite our geographical characteristics, resource constraints, and other difficulties unique to our region, their commitment to academic and research excellence, coupled with regional and international partnerships and networks, has allowed them to participate in global ranking.
The University of the South Pacific’s suggestion that it is now among the top ten percent of universities worldwide has been labelled a little over the top after it was included in the Times Higher Education University Rankings for the very first time.
The ABC Pacific Beat reports there are more than 20,000 universities across the world, but the famous Times Higher Education rankings include fewer than 1700 of them.
However, Times Higher Education's Chief Knowledge Officer, Phil Baty says an over-generous statistical interpretation should not detract from USP's achievement.
Baty said that being ranked in the top 1200 in the world is still a really strong achievement.
He says the Times Higher criteria are pretty demanding, they have 13 performance metrics, so in that sense, it's a fantastic achievement but they are not really looking at all 20,000 institutions, they are narrowing it down to a group of around three or four thousand research universities.
However, Baty is urging USP to be cautious with their future marketing strategies.
He also says while his researchers were well aware of the problems at USP such as the controversy over the status of USP’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia and a governance crisis centred on allegations of serious mismanagement, they weren't a factor in assessing the institution's ranking.
However, Baty believes they could yet impact on USP’s burgeoning reputation, particularly now that the university's biggest donor Fiji has withdrawn its funding.
Baty says they do run a reputation survey.
He adds so they survey 22,000 academics across the world to give their judgments on the university's reputation for excellence in their specialist area.
Baty further says it is fair to say USP hasn't done very, very well on their reputation metrics, that may possibly be influenced by the turmoil.
Baty says so as long as the students are still being taught, as long as the university is still producing research into the global journals, issues of governance don't really creep into the immediate evaluations.
Baty also says on that basis, USP can make huge mileage out of its newfound recognition, but perhaps with a slightly more modest headline.
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