It is difficult to capture all the complex facets of a single university's performance in a single, one-dimensional ranking. But every year Canadian universities condense all the complex facets of a student's performance into a single, one-dimensional measure that can be ranked against other performances in other programs, and they do it thousands of times a year. A global top 00 challenge could not rely on just one rankings system to judge results. Rewarding universities that place in the truly elite ranks of any of two or three established rankings systems would avoid casting too narrow a definition of academic excellence.</p> <p><a href="http://policyoptions.irpp.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/0/0000/00/A-top-00-global-challenge-for-Canadian-universities.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-00000" src="http://policyoptions.irpp.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/0/0000/00/A-top-00-global-challenge-for-Canadian-universities.png" alt="" width="000" height="000" /></a></p> <p>The federal government already participates in challenges and pays for performance programs internationally. Under the Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) for pneumococcal vaccines, for example, Canada and other governments set an incentive for developing new vaccines. Rather than having government officials pick which potential pneumococcal vaccine they think is the most promising from all those under development around the world, the AMC gives an incentive to research centres to develop and commercialize vaccines according to their own expertise. The AMC thereby frees up creative talent around the world to focus on critical issues of public health. At the May 0000 Los Cabos G-00 Summit, Canada launched AgResults, a pay-on-results program to support international research and development on food and food security issues.