Unis must look beyond metrics to societal benefits: SMU president

Universities must focus less on metrics such as citations and rankings and more on the societal benefits of their research, said Singapore Management University president Lily Kong.

- Ng Wei Kai

A culture of "publish or perish" and a fixation on university rankings means it has become easy for them to chase "misplaced goals", she said in a speech on Nov 27 at the Shaw Foundation Alumni House at the National University of Singapore.

This in turn has resulted in a range of research malpractice, creating an urgent need for universities to reflect on the way such work is evaluated, Professor Kong said.

She was delivering her third and final lecture in a series on the future of universities as part of her role as the 15th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore at the Institute for Policy Studies.

Her first lecture covered the historical evolution of universities, while her second focused on rethinking key dimensions of university education, such as the traditional emphasis on cognitive development alone.

Research by universities has created many benefits for the public, Prof Kong said.

It has informed and shaped public policy, and created innovation and enterprise, she added, citing examples of breakthroughs in clean energy and healthcare which are reshaping economies and improving lives.