Global Rankings: Reshaping the Spatial Landscape of Higher Education

Abstract

The topic of this chapter is the rapid growth of global university ranking systems. The processes associated with internationalization are related to broader shifts within the global landscape of higher education associated with the commodification and marketization of education. Heightened competition between higher education institutions has contributed to the quest to develop systems to evaluate and rank universities. New modes of governance across a variety of scales have been established to mobilize universities to compete against one another in the race to the top. Drawing upon post-foundational spatial theory and the work of Foucault, the author argues that global university rankings and the concomitant quest for world-class status are fundamentally transforming the spatial landscape of higher education through disciplinary technologies that aim to both homogenize while individualize institutions.