Legitimating the world-class university concept through the discourse of elite universities’ presidents

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Abstract
Although well-renowned universities attempt to differentiate themselves from other universities, little research has been undertaken on the principal themes involved in the concept of the world-class university (WCU) as presented in speeches by members of WCUs. These discourses are a key tool in universities’ attempt to shape the competitive framework of higher education through legitimacy. We study the presidents’ discourses from 100 leading universities to identify the themes and emergent discourse of these universities’ communities. Applying topic modeling methodology to the speeches’ corpus, we find seven communities (Worldwide-the four regions, American-from different states, Flagship, Education concerned, Some Chinese universities, Central European universities and Challengers) and four main themes arising from WCUs’ discourses (Research universities within international rankings, Stakeholders and leadership, Mission and values, and Education). Our preliminary findings suggest that leading universities are working to adopt the WCU label based on their salient characteristics.

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