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Last week, THE published its long-awaited World University Rankings - and also reported rankings of a different sort (The week in higher education, 4 October). According to a psychology journal paper, "British men are better endowed than those of many nationalities...but they still rank only 78th out of 113 countries". It might be interesting to investigate what psychological factors lie behind the (male) obsession with rankings (of any kind) and whether the decline of Western academia - which the World University Rankings purportedly show - finds a match in such a sensitive area.

Anna Notaro, Contemporary media theory, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee