A few short months ago, the news that Trinity had jumped seven places to 101st in the QS World University Rankings would have given many of Trinity’s bigwigs cause for celebration.
Today, though, reading about the new rankings, it is unlikely many would have even cracked a half-smile – let alone popped the champagne.
Year after year, the dreaded rankings have hounded Provost Patrick Prendergast, with Trinity consistently sliding down the global pecking order. It seemed despite College’s best efforts and a growing economy (the fruits of which admittedly rarely reached higher education), College simply could not catch a break.
And the past couple of years have shown that few things set Trinity students off like a headline saying that College has dropped in the university rankings. The drops confirm everything people assume about College: in short, that it’s slowly rotting. There is something satisfying about slamming the shortcomings of an institution you are paying to attend.
The more people latched on to the importance of Trinity’s slide in the rankings, the more Prendergast refuted their importance. In 2018, Prendergast dismissed rankings as “reductive” and said that they did not acknowledge the college’s recent achievements and initiatives.
The past couple of years have shown that few things set Trinity students off like a headline saying that College has dropped in the rankings
In his final address to the whole College, in 2018, he said: “I believe we are under-ranked – it’s taking time for the rankings to catch up with all we’ve done.”
However, after Trinity fell 44 places to 164th in the Times Higher Education rankings – which focus more on innovation than the prestige-obsessed QS World Rankings – College changed its tune.
It quickly went on the offensive, and even called for a national strategy to tackle higher education’s funding issues – a sign, if it were needed, that College was now taking this seriously.
Aside from the rhetoric – and more dramatically again – rankings were suddenly at the centre of Trinity’s plans – and its strategic plan, published earlier this year. Money – up to €29 million – was to be ploughed into reducing the student–staff ratio, and high-quality research was singled out as vitally important to the future of College.
So today, in some ways, represents a victory. Trinity is now tantalisingly close to regaining its spot among the top 100 universities in the world, which would help restore some of the university’s credibility on a national and worldwide stage.
Pandemic-era health concerns are likely to cancel out any increased international interest Trinity might have won due to its rankings rise
For a College community desperate for some good news, it offers a break from the doom and gloom.
Unfortunately, however, it seems overwhelmingly likely that this bump will not be permanent. The government bailout that the Irish Universities Association is pushing for seems highly unlikely to materialise, and the kind of sustained funding that Trinity needs to grow is not forthcoming. This will probably lead to higher student–staff ratios, the underfunding of research and departments and an inability on the part of College to invest in the future – in particular, in its capital investment projects.
One of the reasons rankings are so important is that they are used by international students when they are deciding what university to attend. And health concerns, inevitable in a pandemic, are likely to cancel out any increased international interest Trinity might have won due to its improved rankings.
This will hurt Trinity’s pockets for years to come, and could lead to further dips in the rankings further down the line.
What would have seemed like a very happy day for College at the beginning of the year seems a lot less important now. The rankings have been put firmly in context, and students and professors could be forgiven for scratching their heads and wondering what all the hullabaloo was about. It’s akin to finding out you’ve been cured of cancer before promptly getting hit by a bus.
