Global academic rankings, such as Webometrics, are essential tools for evaluating higher education institutions and guiding efforts to improve their academic and research performance at both local and global levels. Many universities, particularly those in remote regions with limited access to basic services, face similar challenges that hinder…

Purpose: This paper aims to understand the ideas and material circumstances behind the policy objective to enhance the perceived value of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Chile through a communication campaign and how this campaign addresses this objective. Design/methodology/approach: This research adopted a qualitative…

This paper explores some of the fundamental contradictions related to the commercialisation of education and how Pearson plc -- 'the world's leading multinational education company' -- is trying to overcome these challenges through discourse and semiotics. Pearson's "Efficacy Framework" is a semiotic-calculative device created to measure…

University rankings envision a level playing field between competing universities, particularly in higher education (HE) systems regulated along market lines. Drawing on social stratification theory, we argue that rankings exacerbate, rather than alleviate, resource inequalities between universities with historically consolidated reputations…

Previous research has shown that even when famous people's identities cannot be discerned from faces that have been filtered with monochromatic noise, these unidentifiable famous faces still tend to receive higher familiarity ratings than similarly filtered non-famous faces. Experiment 1 investigated whether a similar face recognition without…

This article examines how specialist music secondary schools in England present themselves on their websites and social media platforms. We consider visual communication codes and how such patterns reflect cultural distinctions and social boundaries. Multimodal critical discourse analysis is used to demonstrate how the choice of semiotic resources…

Occupational gender segregation is still a persistent problem in the labor market. This study investigates gender differences in gender typicality and prestige of occupational aspirations in early adolescence, as well as the role of agency and communion in these differences. In total, 2779 adolescents (age 11-15) reported their occupational…

This article reviews the history of world university rankings and their large-scale impact. It then analyzes some of the criticism of the world ranking systems before exploring their impact in the context of Thai universities. The authors' assertions centre on the premise that much of the criticism of these ranking systems can be divided into…

This multimethod study was conducted to explore students' decision-making to approach or avoid interactions with peers about instructors and investigate motivations for instructional dissent. Participants (N = 124 college students) responded to measures of instructional dissent behavior and motivations for social gossip, then responded to an…

In the contemporary science and higher education system, national and supranational governments fund and foster universities to collaborate through specific funding lines and competition in World University Rankings, making it indispensable for universities to demonstrate collaboration at the organizational level. Thus, universities strive to…

Although internationalisation underpins many practices in higher education, its adopted approaches can be uneven between institutions and create ambiguous conceptualisations of how it is enacted in practice. Therefore, a whole-sector analysis can provide insight into whether spaces exist for new and innovative approaches to internationalisation,…

Literature on the modern university suggest that top-ranked world-class universities are the ideal, and emerging nation-states should establish such institutions. Appearing at the top in international university rankings has become the aim as it guarantees attraction and retention of top talent. This study investigated the status of a university…

Conducting marine mammal research can raise several important ethical issues. For example, the continuation of whaling for commercial purposes despite the international moratorium provides opportunities for scientists to obtain data and tissue samples. In 2021 we analysed 35 peer-reviewed papers reporting research based on collaborations with…

The purpose of the research is to theorise about the determinants of academic reputation and the moderating effects of aspiration performance in Latin-American universities present in three of the most important rankings in the world: The Times Higher Education, QS World University Rankings, Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). To…

This study shows findings of an investigation into the forms of institutionalizing academic rankings as accountability tools for Brazilian public universities. The absence of institutional conditions which allowed the rise of these league tables in other countries - competitive admission markets and incorporation into public policies - evinces the…