The paper addresses the subject of performance in higher education field and examines the way in which performance evaluation expressed in terms of university ranking systems affects institutional diversity. The New Public Management reform wave emanated by US and UK liberal governments in the 1980’s also stressed the need for developing public accountability systems based on performance indicators across all types of public services. Along with these public sector reforms, the changing role of universities, the rapid growth of higher education markets and massification has led to an international concern for quality in higher education. International University ranking systems such as Shanghai Ranking (ARWU) or Times Higher Education (THE) are one of the main by-products regarding academic performance assessment. University ranking systems are an important and useful tool in comparing universities and in stimulating competition among them. But are these rankings adequate in evaluating and comparing different universities coming from different cultural contexts or holding different institutional profiles? Accordingly, the main argument stressed in the paper is that internationally-used university ranking systems favor research-centered higher education institutions leaving aside universities with traditional teaching culture for example, thus affecting institutional diversity. In sustaining this argument I analyze the criteria used in three ranking systems and the different weights attached to these criteria as well as the effects produced at institutional level in the european context. Then I conclude by offering alternative ways for assessing higher education performance taking into account institutional diversity.
