Uni Rankings Boycott

Hey Wise Ones,

University Rankings are always a contentious topic - this week is no different. For the first time we can remember, an entire country’s university cohort has decided to boycott international ranking systems. Which one is it? Read more below.

Michael & Stella

Korean Universities Unite Against QS Ranking Changes

• In an unprecedented move, all of South Korea’s top research universities (52 in total) have come together in a call to boycott global university rankings issued by QS.

• They believe this was due to changes relating, in particular, to QS’ International Research Network (IRN) indicator, newly added this year, which the group says is unreasonable for non-English speaking countries.

• The group also argues that another new indicator on Sustainability was also “arbitrarily” calculated without providing sufficient definition, making it difficult to know the consistency of the scores.

Why It Matters:

• Korean universities now say they will withdraw permanently from QS rankings, withholding their data, unless the methodology is made more transparent and the flaws “corrected”. This is the first country-wide boycott of its kind.

• This all occurred after the first major change in QS methodology in decades. Three new indicators were introduced – employment outcomes, IRN and sustainability, each weighted at just 5%, so QS had to take away from weightings on other things.

• Withholding of university data is not new. Notable universities like Columbia, as well as Harvard and Yale Law Schools, have withdrawn from the US News & World Report, the USA’s most notable college ranking system.

Dinner Table Debate:

• Are university rankings more beneficial than harmful?

Did You Know?

• 33 schools have withdrawn from the US News & World Report Rankings in just the last nine months.

ChatGPT Usage Decreased in June. Who’s to Blame?

• Worldwide desktop and mobile traffic to the ChatGPT website decreased by 9.7% in June from May, while unique visitors to ChatGPT's website dropped 5.7%. The amount of time visitors spent on the website was also down 8.5%, the data shows.

• Decreasing traffic is a sign of the chatbot's novelty wearing off, said Similarweb's Senior Insights Manager David Carr, while RBC Capital Markets analyst Rishi Jaluria explained the data points to more demand for generative AI with real-time information.

• The WISE Team can tell you the actual story: while Carr, Jaluria, et al may have a point, the key lever is that teachers and students are no longer in school and no longer using it to write homework assignments or create lesson plans. Remind us why these pundits get paid so much? 😛 

Why It Matters:

• This momentous drop in user activity proves out a strong case for education-specific LLMs. There are a few companies who sure feel that way.

• AI and ChatGPT could be leading us to finally solving Bloom’s two-sigma problem first publicized in 1984.

Dinner Table Debate:

• If you were the head of a school, what would your AI / ChatGPT policy be and why?

Did You Know?

• ChatGPT was (at the time of release) the fastest app EVER to reach 100MM users.

Professional Development Efficacy in Question

• The average teacher spends 6–9 days per year in Professional Development. There’s now reason to think it might not be all that valuable.

• A recent study using TIMSS data from 2003 - 2019 reported, “These results indicate that student fixed effects capture most of the variation in teacher characteristics and that differences in instruction time among students explain some of the variation that teachers’ PD participation does not explain.”

Why It Matters:

• "Student fixed effects" refers to characteristics of students that do not change over time or across different situations, such as their innate ability or socioeconomic background.

• In other words, the study reports that who the students are (their fixed characteristics) and how much time teachers spend instructing them can explain differences in teacher characteristics more than whether or not teachers participate in professional development.

• It appears that: Student talent and personality + teacher time = results.

• There are a number of challenges to the study, including teacher learning time of new PD techniques, selection bias, and experience bias, among others.

Dinner Table Debate:

• What are the most critical inputs (factors) to student learning results in the classroom? Why?

Did You Know?

• 90% of teachers in US schools have required Professional Development Days. WISE wonders why this isn’t 100%…

Quick Reads:

• New UK University principles promotes AI literacy and Integrity.

• Virtual Universities Face Financial Reality.

• Moms for Liberty speak out against US Education System.