This text criticizes existing international models used to rank higher education institutions worldwide and suggests a new approach of multi-dimensional mapping. It details the conceptual, practical and methodological frameworks relevant to this new approach.

An important contribution to the international discussion on higher education globalization and worldwide rankings of higher education institutions, this volume criticizes the existing one-dimensional and aggregated international ranking models and suggests an interesting and exciting new approach of multi-dimensional mapping of higher education institutions.

The text gives readers a window on the unique process of developing a new approach to creating effective transparency in the diversity of higher education systems. It describes the conceptual, practical and methodological frameworks relevant to this new approach, whose development was based on theoretical and empirical literature on diversity in higher education. The authors report on the design methodology and research that were applied to develop the new instrument and also place it in the context of current supranational and national higher education policies.

The new system emerged from a top-level EU project to design the first European classification of higher education institutions as a tool for mapping the diversity of the higher education landscape. The editor and chapter authors are all international leaders in the field who took part in the multi-year project. They also explore the potential application of the classification in the contexts of the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education and Research Areas (EHEA and ERA). The book analyzes, too, how the system can be used at the level of individual higher education institutions, where the classification is shown to be a useful instrument for strategic institutional profiling.

This volume will be of interest to politicians and policy-makers in higher education at the supranational, national and sub-national levels, and to leaders and managers of higher education institutions and associations. It is also highly relevant to staff members and advisors at different policy levels, to higher education researchers and students, and to all who are interested in the further development of higher education systems and institutions.

Contains the first presentation of a new higher education tool in Europe Relates to world-wide discussions about rankings and offers an alternative Opens up a new debate about international quality of European higher education Highly relevant in the Bologna process (46 European and other countries) Relates to international activities in ranking in Asia, Australia, the US Relates to the further development of the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area, as well as the general EU innovation policy (Lisbon agenda)

Inhalt
Diversity and Differentiation in Higher Education.- Diversity in European Higher Education: Historical Trends and Current Policies.- The Search for Transparency: Convergence and Diversity in the Bologna Process.- The European Higher Education Classification: Objectives and Concepts.- Rankings and Classifications: The Need for a Multidimensional Approach.- The European Higher Education Classification: The Design Process.- Using the Classification in the European Higher Education Area.- Using the Classification in the European Research Area.- Using the Classification for Institutional Profiling: The Norwegian University of Science and Technology.- Using the Classification for Institutional Profiling: The University of Strathclyde.