ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the results of a case study at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), in the Netherlands, on the perceptions of global rankings. It explains the impact of these global rankings on VU's strategy and practice. Global rankings play a modest role in VU's marketing and branding efforts. Dutch research universities provide the largest number of English-taught programs in continental Europe. VU leadership, academics, and policy advisors are aware of the pressure on academics from publish or perish' syndrome. U-Multirank may be seen as a first attempt to build a rankings portal rather than yet another ranking system. However, science and academic pursuit can never be free of values, and values are always based on some form of conviction or philosophy. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has been aware of increasing globalization and internationalization also of the research context.
