When the International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence convened its fifth conference in October 2010 (see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, October 2010), it unveiled the IREG Ranking Audit as a pivotal scheme to improve the quality and dissemination of rankings.

An important development now comes seven months later. In the context of the UNESCO Global Forum Rankings and Accountability in Higher Education: Uses and Misuses, held in Paris on 15-17 May 2011, the executive committee of the (IREG) Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence released a document with specific details about its approach. IREG-Ranking Audit: Purpose, Criteria and Procedure outlines the structure, rules and methodology by which ranking bodies, which may volunteer to participate, will be reviewed and assessed.  

The main goals of the IREG ranking audit are

• to enhance the transparency of rankings;
• to equip users of ranking with a tool to identify sound rankings and
• to improve the overall quality of rankings.

The ranking audit is open to any national or international ranking. IREG expects to unveil the results of its first ranking audit in autumn 2011.

IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence