Striving for excellence in the age of rankings: Insights from two leading research universities in Latin America
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Date
2021
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Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
Abstract
© Ellen Hazelkorn and Georgiana Mihut 2021.The higher education sector’s main challenges in Latin America can be addressed with guidance from the few flagship universities of the region. However, these universities face both internal and external obstacles that hinder their full modernization, threatening their leadership. In this chapter, following the path of recent works analysing the impact of global rankings on universities’ strategies, missions, structures, and functions, we inquire about the extent to which global rankings have influence, or not, in the development strategies of two leading Latin American universities: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC-Chile) and Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). Findings suggest that rankings are not just passively received by institutions but are instead leveraged for strategic advantage vis a vis internal constituencies or external stakeholders.