Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Does Community Service Make Any Difference in University Rankings?

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Exploring Services Science (IESS 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 279))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

The paper analyzes the way in which different attributes of the community service are taken into consideration among the indicators used in international university rankings. Also, the paper discusses the extent to which these factors influence positioning of the university in the overall ranking. For this purpose, eleven international rankings of world universities have been examined to identify those indicators that address community service issues. These are meant to measure how seriously a university takes its obligations to society by investing in community. Furthermore, two main criteria form the basis of analysis, namely social responsibility and regional engagement, as these include explicit measures for community service. The results suggest that there is a positive correlation between ranking in social responsibility and the overall ranking for universities investigated, and between ranking in regional engagement and overall ranking, but of different intensity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Daraio, C., Bonaccorsi, A., Simar, L.: Rankings and university performance: a conditional multidimensional approach. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 244(3), 918–930 (2015)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Marconi, G., Ritzen, J.: Determinants of international university rankings scores. Appl. Econ. 47(57), 6211–6227 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Millot, B.: International rankings: universities vs. higher education systems. Int. J. Educ. Develop. 40, 156–165 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ordorika, I., Lloyd, M.: International rankings and the contest for university hegemony. J. Educ. Policy 30(3), 385–405 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Olcay, G.A., Bulu, M.: Is measuring the knowledge creation of universities possible? A review of university rankings. Technological Forecasting and Social Change (2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.03.029

  6. Serhiivna, S.Y., Fedorivna, G.O., Oleksandrivna, B.V.: The international and national university rankings as a constituent of university’s competitiveness. Market. Manage. Innovations. 1, 183–195 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Lukman, R., Krajnc, D., Glavič, P.: University ranking using research, educational and environmental indicators. J. Clean. Prod. 18(7), 619–628 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Kroth, A., Daniel, H.D.: International university rankings - a critical review of the methodology. Zeitschrift fur Erziehungswissenschaft 11(4), 542–558 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Buela-Casal, G., Gutierrez-Martinez, O., Bermudez-Sanchez, M.P., et al.: Comparative study of international academic rankings of universities. Scientometrics 71(3), 349–365 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Mtawa, N.N., Fongwa, S.N., Wangenge-Ouma, G.: The scholarship of university-community engagement: interrogating Boyer’s model. Intl. J. Educ. Develop. 49, 126–133 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Dlouhá, J., Huisingh, D., Barton, A.: Learning networks in higher education: universities in search of making effective regional impacts. J. Clean. Prod. 49, 5–10 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Checkoway, B.: Community development, social diversity, and the new metropolis. Community Develop. J. 46(suppl 2), ii5–ii14 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  13. O’Rafferty, S., Curtis, H., O’Connor, F.: Mainstreaming sustainability in design education – a capacity building framework. Int. J. Sustain. High. Educ. 15(2), 169–187 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Shiel, C., Leal Filho, W., do Paço, A., Brandli, L.: Evaluating the engagement of universities in capacity building for sustainable development in local communities. Eval. Program Plann. 54, 123–134 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Afshar, A.: Community-campus partnerships for economic development: community perspectives. http://www.bos.frb.org/commdev/pcadp/2005/pcadp0502.pdf

  16. Bruning, S.D., McGrew, S., Cooper, M.: Town-gown relationships: exploring university-community engagement from the perspective of community members. Public Relat. Rev. 32(2), 125–130 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Pacheco, P., Motloch, J., Vann, J.: Second chance game: local (university-community) partnerships for global awareness and responsibility. J. Clean. Prod. 14(9–11), 848–854 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Acworth, E.B.: University-industry engagement: the formation of the knowledge integration community (KIC) model at the Cambridge-MIT Institute. Res. Policy 37, 1241–1254 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Weerts, D.J., Sandmann, L.R.: Building a two-way street: challenges and opportunities for community engagement at research universities. Rev. High. Educ. 32(1), 73–106 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Guan, J., Zhao, Q.: The impact of university-industry collaboration networks on innovation in nanobiopharmaceuticals. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang. 80(7), 1271–1286 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Bender, G.: Exploring conceptual models for community engagement at higher education institutions in South Africa. Perspect. Educ. 26(1), 81–95 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Boyle, M.E., Silver, I.: Poverty, partnerships, and privilege: elite institutions and community empowerment. City Community 4(3), 233–253 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Sanderson, D.M., Watters, J.J.: The corporatisation of higher education: a question of balance. In: Debowski, S. (ed.) Proceedings Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia Annual Conference, Perth, Western Australia, pp. 316–323 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Boulton, G.: University rankings: diversity, excellence and the european initiative. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 13, 74–82 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Hammersley, L.: Community-based service-learning: partnerships of reciprocal exchange? Asia Pac. J. Cooperat. Educ. 14(3), 171–184 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UNESCO Department for Business Administration, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Piața Romană 6, District 1, 010374, Bucharest, Romania

    Carmen Păunescu

Authors
  1. Carmen Păunescu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carmen Păunescu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Economics, eCampus University, Rome, Italy

    Stefano Za

  2. Department of Automatic Control and System Engineering, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Monica Drăgoicea

  3. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

    Maurizio Cavallari

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this paper

Cite this paper

Păunescu, C. (2017). Does Community Service Make Any Difference in University Rankings?. In: Za, S., Drăgoicea, M., Cavallari, M. (eds) Exploring Services Science. IESS 2017. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 279. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56925-3_23

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56925-3_23

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56924-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56925-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation