Legitimation through the rankings: case of a Public University in Brazil

The importance of national and international university rankings for their legitimacy in the institutional field has questioned the researches and leaders of the institutions for a closer look at this issue. The objective of this paper was to analyze the influence of the performance indicators of the internationalization of rankings as legitimacy for the institutional field of a public higher education. For this, from a list of more than 10 available rankings, two rankings were selected, one at national level (Ranking UniversitárioFolha, in Portuguese, or Folha University Rankings) and one international (Times Higher Education World University Rankings). The article was divided into two parts, the first with the survey of the data obtained from the listings of these rankings and the second, a semi-structured interview with two heads involved with the management of the studied institution, State University of Maringá from Brazil. The results suggest that a better ranking in the university rankings may suggest a higher visibility in the institutional field, it is like a reputation that can engage the external community; and suggest understanding the major purpose of internationalization which is to form a complete citizen for society.