Reframing University Rankings: Visibility, Open Science & Global South Leadership

University rankings strongly influence global perceptions of quality, research funding decisions, and institutional strategy. Yet many traditional ranking systems rely on closed datasets and narrow indicators that continue to underrepresent universities in the Global South—despite their significant research contributions. To address this challenge, the Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa), Kenya, in partnership with IES Research, Singapore (part of iGroup (Asia Pacific) Ltd, Hong Kong), convened a webinar titled “Reframing University Rankings: Visibility, Open Science & Global South Leadership.” The session explored how open-science-aligned practices—including openness, transparency, persistent identifiers (PIDs), and open research infrastructures—can enhance institutional visibility and improve ranking performance