Building a New World-class University

Jamil Salmi
In the past decade, the term 'world-class university' has become a catchphrase to describe research universities at the pinnacle of the tertiary education hierarchy, as measured by the various international rankings. Around the world, governments have responded to this global reputational competition with additional funding to promote their national elite universities, as illustrated by the various 'excellence initiatives' in countries as varied as China, Denmark, Germany, Nigeria, Russia, South Korea, Spain or Taiwan.
In some cases, the government has also encouraged its top universities to merge so as to achieve economies of scale and reach a better position to compete globally. A few countries have even decided to establish new universities from scratch, with the explicit purpose of creating world-class institutions.
Achieving the ambitious result of launching a high quality, new university is easier said than done, however, as building a world-class institution requires more than knee-jerk reactions to the rankings or a massive infusion of government money. This engagement is a complex and lengthy process that only recently has begun to receive careful attention. The following paragraphs outline the most common pitfalls encountered in some of the current projects that aim at establishing a new flagship institution.
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Source: University World News, Issue No: 0156, 30 January 2011