Journal article
The determinants of quality national higher education systems
R Williams, G de Rassenfosse, P Jensen, S Marginson
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management | Published : 2013
Abstract
This paper evaluates the performance of national higher education systems in 48 countries as measured with 20 variables grouped under the four headings of Resources, Environment, Connectivity and Output. Rankings within each module are then combined into an overall ranking that is topped by the United States followed by Sweden, Canada, Finland and Denmark. Relationships between different attributes are explored. Countries ranked highest on output tend to be ranked highly on resources. Research output is correlated with government funding, especially expenditure on research and development (R&D). The impact of the policy and regulatory environment is also examined. The weakest national system..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The work is sponsored by Universitas 21 (U21), an international group of research-intensive universities. We are grateful to the U21 Secretariat for assistance, particularly in the carrying out of the survey used in the construction of the Environment measure. Earlier versions of the paper were presented at the May 2012 annual Presidents meeting of U21 in Lund and at the IMHE Conference at the OECD in Paris, September 2012. We thank participants at these meetings for their useful comments.