Rethinking excellence: A conversation on purpose-driven higher education

January 30, 2025
Matthew Hartley and Alan Ruby

Matthew Hartley (left) and Alan Ruby

In their new book, Pursuing Institutional Purpose: Profiles of Excellence, higher education experts Matthew Hartley and Alan Ruby challenge conventional notions of what it means to be a “world-class” university. Rather than focusing on global rankings and prestige, the book examines how eight higher education institutions around the world have defined and pursued excellence on their own terms, rooted in their missions, values, and local contexts. An open access version of Pursuing Institutional Purpose is available for free download from the publisher's website.

In this Q&A, Hartley and Ruby reflect on the inspiration behind their book, the insights gained from studying these institutions, and the lessons they hope higher education leaders and policy makers will take away.

Q. Most of the institutions profiled in your book are outside the United States. Why should higher education leaders and policymakers in the United States read Pursuing Institutional Purpose, and what lessons might they draw from it?

A. Institutions from other countries are shaped by their own set of priorities and beliefs about what is truly important. By examining how they define and pursue their own unique sense of purpose we can discover ways that help others as they strive to be excellent. We have drawn out some observations and ideas that are relevant to universities in much of the world including the USA.

Three common characteristics of these institutions can and should inform practice in universities and colleges regardless of location.

First, they should be clear about who they serve, their students, and the work they are hoping to do in the world. We find that universities that have clarity and certainty about the institution’s mission are more likely to be effective.

Secondly effectiveness goes up when there is a distinct and observable organizational culture based on widely held core values. You can see and hear these values in the stories people tell about the institution, about the things that are valued and celebrated in the everyday lives of the members of that academic community. Faculty, staff, students, and alumni all tell these stories.

Thirdly, effective institutions are grounded in the community, defined in large part by place and national culture and shaped by local concerns, by history and aspiration. This is what anchors their mission or purpose. While they sometimes invoke principles like high research productivity and academic selectivity that recur in discussions of elite institutions, it is the connection with the local community and the students that makes them effective. These are qualities that come from within the institution, from the purposeful work of individuals and teams of colleagues working towards a shared goal. That takes time and effort and leadership. These matter more than money.

Some of our early readers say that these axioms or practices apply to secondary schools and to commercial enterprises, to places where people work together to create something of enduring value. Indeed, some of the sources we have drawn on are from these environments, so it makes sense that our findings have a wider relevance.

Q. Your book critiques how rankings focus on the top 10% of higher education institutions around the world while neglecting “the other 15,000.” Can you share how one of the featured institutions demonstrates excellence in ways that rankings fail to capture?

Many of the institutions in the book serve vulnerable populations. Some offer programs to help students orient themselves academically before beginning a program, a strategy to offset educational gaps earlier in life. One has pitched attendance in rural populations by saying “shoes or no shoes, you can come.” These institutions enable talented students from the most difficult circumstances to succeed academically. They also have fewer resources than the institutions further up the rankings. Yet, they are providing an incredible return on investment for the students who attend them. The work they do to produce these benefits is not captured in any of the major ranking’s formulae.

Q. You emphasize the importance of institutions aligning with their local context and community. Can you share an example of a university that’s purpose is shaped by its regional or cultural environment?

One of the most fascinating examples is the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in India. MIT is one of the finest institutes of technology in the world. TISS is the counterpart in the social sciences. TISS has worked closely with communities across India to address pressing problems around poverty, social inequality, water resources and much more. For example, it pioneered a new approach to domestic violence by working with the Mumbai police force to make a victim’s first point of contact a trained social worker who was housed inside the police station. Starting from one field action project these special units are now spread across India. This initiative illustrates how TISS works closely with communities to grapple with pressing, real-world problems. Its success has led it to being a go-to institution for the Indian government when it is grappling with a social problem.

Q. You highlight the role of shared values and organizational culture in achieving excellence. How did you identify the underlying values of the institutions you studied? Were there any surprises?

Our research was informed by the pathbreaking work of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot. Her portraiture methodology is a powerful means of capturing institutional life. Our primary focus in our interviews was to unearth the narratives inside people’s heads about why their institution does what it does and why that matters. In telling those stories the participants in the study spoke about the deep values driving them, and there are some fascinating examples of the tensions people face when values within the institution conflict with external demands and expectations.

Q. While studying these eight institutions, did you encounter any particularly unique or inspiring stories?

We feel that each of these stories are incredible examples of institutions seeking to do important and impactful work in the world on their own terms. For some of them, this meant holding to core values that informed their founding. Others have been shaped by their radical commitment to their students — a commitment to teaching and to providing a vibrant intellectual environment, sometimes of a type quite unknown in their culture. Nazarbayev University in a post-Soviet state has highlighted problem solving and critical thinking as core competences that should distinguish a young graduate. The School of Advanced Studies in Tyumen in Russia breaks away from the prevailing notion that students should follow a set national curriculum preparing them for a specific vocation by emphasizing student choice and interdisciplinary studies while delaying specialization. The Asian University for Women offers college education to young women from communities that traditionally deny them access to formal learning. All three examples are practices that run counter to conventional wisdom, just as University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s approach to student success in the sciences was contrary to accepting high rates of failure in introductory chemistry and calculus courses.