QS 2020: Upward Universities of Central and Eastern Europe

QS 2020: Upward Universities of Central and Eastern Europe

Global Ranking Monitor, Headline
Leading universities in the region are generally characterized by improving ranking positions in QS's newly published university rankings. While last year there were strikingly many Austrian, Finnish, Polish and so on. institution placement has deteriorated, and now we see a sort of correction: almost all universities in the region have maintained or even improved their QS ranking. Among the Hungarian universities University of Szeged was one worse, ELTE one better. It is impressive to see the progress made by previously ranked universities: all Austrian universities have achieved a better positions, most of them with a large improvement of 10-15%. The Finns are in a worse position than last year, but Helsinki and Aalto did not deteriorate further. At Charles University (Prague), the deterioration of the last half decade seems to…
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EngiRank – How can the performance of engineering training be measured?

EngiRank – How can the performance of engineering training be measured?

Global Ranking Monitor, Headline
Measures of excellence in higher education may differ from one discipline to another, and this is increasingly recognized by ranking makers. In response to the need for more specialized rankings, the EngiRank project, which has been sponsored by the TEMPUS pprogramme, has organized a long-standing benchmarking center, the Polish Perspektivy Foundation, to explore the potential of engineering training. The first step in the expert consultation was the seminar which was held in Warsaw on 16 May 2019. The main topics were: Waldemar Siwinski, President, Perspektywy Education Foundation (Poland), Vice President, IREG Observatory: - Why do we need a new ranking of the engineering education? Pawel Poszytek, Director General, Foundation for the Development of the Education System FRSE (Poland): - University and business – education for the public good Kazimierz Bilanow,…
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IREG 2019 Bologna Now – a Short Reflection about Feeling

IREG 2019 Bologna Now – a Short Reflection about Feeling

Global Ranking Monitor, Headline
The contradiction of our times: a conference is held at the University of Bologna, which is about a thousand years old, about university rankings there are opposed to the traditional idea of university ... But: presentations about important new developments, for example: a USNews Ranking of Online Programs. [caption id="attachment_5003" align="alignnone" width="300"] IREG 2019 conference[/caption]
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New EU-Universities from More Global Ranking’s Viewpoints

New EU-Universities from More Global Ranking’s Viewpoints

Global Ranking Monitor, Headline
In the recent THE New Europe Rankings there were 53 institutes ranked using the same methodology as in THE World University Rankings (in which 1103 institutes were ranked). Indicators cover five areas, which are the following: learning environment (30%) research (30%) citation (30%) international outlook (7,5%) industry income (2,5%). According to THE New Europe, University of Tartu was on the top, ranked in the 301-350 position in THE World University Ranking. Taking the subject rankings into consideration, University of Tartu positioned itself among the best 250 institutions in several fields, such as clinical, pre-clinical & health, life sciences and computer science. While Cyprus University of Technology - ranked as the second university in the New Europe Rankings - are missing from the best 500 universities in any of the fields, it…
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University Rankings as a Special and Highly Effective Form of Communicating Scientific Excellence*

University Rankings as a Special and Highly Effective Form of Communicating Scientific Excellence*

Headline, Studies
Excellent scientists or scientific products represented scientific excellence for lay audiences and the media traditionally. The Zeitgeistof accountability and affordability has amplified the role of various rankings in this. Among the lists of citations, impact factors, publication indexes, etc., the university rankings raise the highest interest in the media and among science policy makers as well. The actors of science need to be able to recognize the nature of these rankings, beyond the methodological dynamics and problems. Because rankings are not mainly about higher education performance. These rankings show society’s media centered nature and its effect on the academic world. In this context there is a direct lesson for science and university communicationa: rankings are the media phenomenon of a postmodern mass democracy. They are considered postmodern, because scientific and instructional…
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Ranking Workshop in Budapest: New Cooperations

Ranking Workshop in Budapest: New Cooperations

Headline, Projects
The Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) Faculty of Education and Psychology welcomed three leading ranking experts for a two-day visit in Budapest. The idea of this event comes from the research of the ELTE’s Social Communication Research Group, which carries out a special project analysing rankings on the academic level and implementing these in the practice of higher education management. The ELTE, one of the flagships of the Hungarian higher education, for the improvement of international positions of other universities too, considered it important to organise a meeting for Hungarian university representatives and ranking experts. [caption id="attachment_4836" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Waldemar Siwinski, Gero Federkeil, Dmitry Grishankov[/caption] The three guests are important figures of the international ranking world and members of the Executive Committee of IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence: Waldemar…
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Dispersible Meritocracy

Dispersible Meritocracy

Headline, Studies
/Part of Volume "Measured or Communicated? – University Rankings as the Media Representations of Higher Education" by Gyorgy Fabri My argument therefore is based on the notion competence hat there has been a much wider change in the social perception of the rankings, which points far beyond the issue of rankings. The professional (scientific and educational) performance of universities had been acknowledged by a social consensus several hundreds of years old as part of the competence of the academic world – and this changed drastically by the end of the 20th century. And this is not obvious in the sense that it is quite difficult to give an answer within higher education to the question why the professional activities of a university professor or a student wishing to study should be…
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New: Enrollments Decline at U.S. Institutions

New: Enrollments Decline at U.S. Institutions

Global Ranking Monitor, Headline
There is a significant decline in applications and enrolments of international students in U.S. universities and colleges for the first time since 2003. It seems the new immigration policies of the United States make the international students think twice before coming to the U.S. to study. While they are rarely affected by the policies directly, their perception of the country as a welcoming one for students and scholars has been influenced by them.  
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