We all pay attention to university rankings. For students and parents, they can be an important guide in choosing a university. For institutions, policy makers, and politicians, they can be a source of pride, frustration, or envy. In some cases, such as Russia’s “5/100 initiative”, the desire for an improved position in international ranking tables can also be a trigger for investments in strengthening institutions or education systems.

But do international rankings provide an effective measure of relative quality for universities across a country or region, or around the world? And how do they relate to emerging efforts to create a set of globally accepted quality standards for universities?