Rankings as a tool for monitoring the quality of higher education

Abstract

The article studies the quality of higher education and rankings as a tool of monitoring the quality of higher education. Special attention is dedicated to the methodological approaches to understanding the quality of higher education. Today the ranking systems have become widely distributed and applied in the world and European educational space. There are different approaches to classifying the most significant international and Ukrainian rankings, their demands and indicators. The purpose of the research is to analyze rankings and define its role in assessing the quality of higher education institutions. Results. Today two international rankings have received the world recognition: the Times (THES), administered by Times Higher Education magazine (supplement to the Times newspaper on higher education) and the Academic Ranking of the Universities of the World "Shanghai" (ARWU). The most reputable rankings of Ukraine are "TOP-200 Ukraine", Webometrics Ranking, "Consolidated Ranking" (portal "Education .AU"), Scopus database ranking. The ranking assessment of the activities of higher education institutions of all forms of ownership is an integral part of international and national monitoring of higher education. This component meets consumers' demand at the market of educational services and the labor market in information about the reputation of higher education institutions, their achievements and the specific results of scientific and educational activities. Originality. The topicality of the research is determined by the direction of the article, its problems and the need to put forward new hypotheses for studying the quality of higher education and rankings as an efficient tool of its assessing. Conclusions. The analysis of forming criteria for international and Ukrainian rankings proves the necessity of compiling a universal international integrated ranking that takes into account the peculiarities of the activities of various institutions and is as informative as possible.