Communication science and media studies at the UvA are the best in the world. But why?
The communication science and media studies departments at the UvA have been considered the best in the world for many years. This year, the joint cluster is once again leading the rankings. How is this possible?
For the eighth year in a row, the UvA has been voted number one in the world in the QS World University Rankings by Subject in the field of communication science & media studies. What makes these departments so unique? Folia asked Mark Deuze from the media studies department and Theo Araujo from the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) communication science department.
Because why exactly have these departments been at the top of the list for years? “Because we’re that good,” Deuze says with a chuckle. But there’s more to it than that. “Media studies and communication science are two unusually large departments that once formed a single umbrella department,” Deuze explains. “A number of researchers split off from the original communication science department and later started the media studies department. This gave both departments the opportunity to specialise further, and we both benefited from this.”
Deuze continues: “Over the past twenty years, the trend has been to lump smaller media and communication departments together. This makes it much more difficult to manage such a department uniformly at other universities. It is easier in a department where everyone is pulling in the same direction.”
Interdisciplinary
According to Araujo, the communication science department distinguishes itself from other universities primarily in the area of interdisciplinarity. “Communication is a very central theme in the social problems we want to solve. That is why we focus on interdisciplinary cooperation, both nationally and internationally. By collaborating with social partners, we make our department more relevant and gain a better understanding of what communication looks like in everyday life, for example in democracy or in healthcare. Our PhD programme contributes enormously to this. We are therefore proud of how our PhD candidates, in collaboration with our staff, conduct innovative and relevant research.”
Although the range of media studies is broader and more diverse than communication science, according to Deuze, the entire department looks at media in the same way. “This shared perspective provides a common basis. In addition, we have many influential people in the department who write textbooks and reference works and are international pioneers in their field.” He gives an example: “A few years ago, I was in Australia for a lecture and wanted to brush up on my knowledge. During a literature search, I came across a paper that was so good and innovative, truly cutting edge. When I looked up the authors, I found out that they work in the same corridor as me.”
In addition to the department of communication science & media studies, ACTA also scores well on the QS ranking. The joint dentistry faculty of the UvA and the VU is ranked third in the world. This is partly due to the fact that dentistry is part of medicine at most universities.
Critical
Deuze was critical of rankings such as QS in 2018. “I still stand by that criticism. There are very dark sides to such rankings. Think of students who move to a certain city based solely on such a ranking, without any guarantee that they will actually end up at the right educational institution there. We regularly have first-year students from abroad who turn out to be much better suited to communication, and vice versa, but because of that ranking, an 18-year-old student has the idea that we are one department.”
How is the ranking actually determined? “In part, it is based on objective criteria,” explains Deuze. “How often and in which journals staff members publish, and how often they are cited, for example. But part of it is also about reputation. The extent to which colleagues worldwide think that those guys in Amsterdam are doing important work, in other words.” According to Deuze, the Matthew effect also plays a role. “When you rank high, it’s good for your reputation. Because we have been in first place for years, scientists worldwide think that things will be well organised at the UvA, even though they have no first-hand knowledge of it.”
Araujo also has a few criticisms of these kinds of rankings. “They are opaque, so we don’t know exactly how they are calculated, but the creators focus mainly on citations. That is by no means the only way to measure the quality of research; citations are not everything. In addition, we consider education and our social impact to be just as important, and such a ranking falls short in that respect.”
So we should take them with a grain of salt, but if such a ranking is made, wouldn’t you prefer to be number 1? It’s not that simple, says Deuze. “As a department, we have sometimes discussed whether we should even want this. Do we celebrate being number one, or do we celebrate doing our job well? We choose the latter. We know that there are all kinds of flaws with these kinds of rankings, but of course we are proud of the recognition that we are doing a good job. But whether you are number 1 or number 10, it doesn’t matter.” Araujo agrees: “First place is nice, but it certainly doesn’t mean everything.”
