University rankings have become increasingly popular and have penetrated higher education globally. However, it is disputable whether rankings can contribute to the quality assurance of higher education institutions. The present study examined this issue by exploring the mechanism of rankings as an external force influencing university change. It investigated the case of the Chinese Disciplinary Ranking (CDR) and found that university behaviour changed to some extent in terms of resource allocation and internal policies. Priority was placed on areas that were more important for universities to obtain higher rankings. However, the contributions of those changes to quality assurance and improvement were not very evident at either the institutional or systemic levels. The analysis determined that the consequences of the CDR were the result of the interaction between higher education institutions and external ranking schemes. Rankings have inherent limitations as an external force in contributing to quality assurance in higher education.