Determining the Standard of Quality: Examining the Turkish University Ranking Systems According to the Berlin Principles

The increasing competitive environment arising from the commercialization and internationalization of higher education (HE) and the increasing influence of the liberal character of educational policies have led to the emergence of HE ranking systems which have become an inevitable part of HE with the effect they have created. The lack of unambiguous methodological processes is one of the oft-cited critical problems in the HE ranking system literature. These systems vary due to the particular methods they adopt in creating their ranking results. This variation requires a set of principles on how best to perform these rankings. The principles established under Berlin Principles in 2006 aimed to address this need. This study aims to determine to what extent Turkish ranking systems comply with the basic tenets determined in the Berlin Principles. The study was designed as a methodological assessment study and the data were obtained from the websites and printed and electronic publications related to Turkish ranking systems. The data obtained were scored according to an evaluation form consisting of the tenets set out in the Berlin Principles. The findings show that the majority of the Turkish university ranking systems were not designed to be fully compliant with the Berlin Principles and instead they evaluate HE institutions by their research approach and quality definitions.

Towards Developing a Framework to Analyze the Qualities of the University Websites

The website of a university is considered to be a virtual gateway to provide primary resources to its stakeholders. It can play an indispensable role in disseminating information about a university to a variety of audience at a time. Thus, the quality of an academic website requires special attention to fulfil the users’ need. This paper presents a multi-method approach of quality assessment of the academic websites, in the context of universities of Bangladesh. We developed an automated web-based tool that can evaluate any academic website based on three criteria, which are as follows: content of information, loading time and overall performance. Content of information contains many sub criteria, such as university vision and mission, faculty information, notice board and so on. This tool can also perform comparative analysis among several academic websites and generate a ranked list of these. To the best of our knowledge, this is the very first initiative to develop an automated tool for accessing academic website quality in context of Bangladesh. Beside this, we have conducted a questionnaire-based statistical evaluation among several universities to obtain the respective users’ feedback about their academic websites. Then, a ranked list is generated based on the survey result that is almost similar to the ranked list got from the University ranking systems. This validates the effectiveness of our developed tool in accessing academic website.

Akdeniz University's Process of Becoming a Research-Oriented University: Institutional Structuring, Goals, Activities and Outcomes

Turkish universities are not among the top 500 universities in most of the world university ranking systems and have had difficulties in maintaining their current place for the last five years. The most important reason for this decline is that they cannot produce high-quality research outcome. In the literature of higher education studies, there are a limited number of studies on how state universities governed with solely public resources could follow "research-oriented strategies and policies" and what they should do in concrete terms. Based on this deficiency, in this study, experiences of the Research Development and Coordination Board (RDCB) which was established to apply the strategies of Akdeniz University to become a research-oriented university effectively and sustainably, to adapt quickly to the newly formed and developing conditions in the field of R&D, to develop strategies, and to contribute to the university's capacity at the highest level to produce qualified scientific knowledge were examined. Thus, how the institutionalization of the research-oriented university was ensured, the practices that could and could not be realized accordingly with the established policy goals, and the effects of 2017-2020 policies on research outcomes were discussed in detail. The study, in particular, provides important information on how to improve research outcomes through public research budget and which roles the board can play in improving research outcome.

Research Productivity of Sri Lankan Universities in the International Ranking Systems and Mandatory Contribution of Librarians

The objective of this study is to investigate the research productivity of the Sri Lankan state universities depicted in reputed international university ranking systems during 2015-2020 and to identify the areas that can be used to develop the research productivity of the state universities. Research–related scores of the Sri Lankan state universities from 2015-2020 in four ranking systems (THE, QS, SIR, and URAP) were analysed. The study established that the research productivity, impact, and collaboration are the major aspects considered by the ranking systems. Only a few universities are ranked and the scores have a considerable scope to be improved. Several recommendations are made on how the university librarians can support the improvement of research-related related rankings. This is the first study on research productivity scores of Sri Lankan state universities based on international ranking systems. Hence the findings will be useful for the university policymakers in Sri Lanka as well in other countries with similar educational contexts.

HEC Ranking Criteria in the Perspective of Global University Ranking Systems

Globalization and market-based orientation of higher education institutions has increased interest of students, parents, employers, universities, funding agencies, governments, and relevant stakeholders in knowing the rank of their concerned universities at national/global level. This has led to the emergence of several global university ranking systems. Aligned with international trends of ranking, Higher Education of Pakistan [HEC] also initiated ranking of universities at the national level in Pakistan. Subsequently, HEC designed comprehensive ranking criteria for ranking of universities and has implemented it since 2010. This study analyzes the nature of HEC ranking criteria and its constituent indicators from the perspective of global university ranking systems. Using content and thematic analysis, this study found that global university ranking systems mainly focus quality of research and teaching, while HEC additionally focuses effective and efficient use of resources, provision of facilities, social integration, and impact on community development.