RANKINGS WORKSHOP STRATEGIES FOR MARKETING, BRANDING, AND IMPROVING INTERNATIONAL RANKINGS MICHAEL FUNG DIRECTOR OF PLANNING & INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHINOLOGY 26 MARCH 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MIN CITY, VIETNAM 1

IMPROVING RANKINGS PERFORMANCE 2

RANKINGS ANALYSIS Rankings Analysis – 7 Steps 1)In-depth understanding of methodology 2)Conduct trend analysis 3)Benchmarking analysis 4)Analyze subject rankings 5)Verify the results 6)Rankings simulations/projections 7)Engage with ranking agencies 3

In-depth understanding of methodology - 1 StrategyQS AsianRanking CriteriaQS WorldStrategy 30%Academic peer review40% 10%Recruiter review10%  faculty20%Student faculty ratio20%  faculty  faculty15%Papers per faculty- 15%Citations per paper- -Citations per faculty20%  faculty 2.5%International faculty5% 2.5%International students5% 2.5%Inbound exchange- 2.5%Outbound exchange- Larger faculty number scores better. RANKINGS ANALYSIS 4

In depth understanding of methodology - 2 IndicatorWeightStrategy 1Total students / academics4.5%  faculty 2PhD awards / bachelor’s awards2.25% 3PhD awards / academic6%  Faculty 4Reputational survey on teaching15% 5Institutional Income / academic2.25%  Faculty 6Academic papers / academic + research staff6%  Faculty 7Research income / academic staff6%  Faculty 8Reputational survey on research18% 9 Citation impact (normalized average citations per paper) 30% 10Research income from industry / academic staff2.5%  faculty 11International / domestic staff ratio2.5% 12International / domestic students ratio2.5% 13% of internationally co-authored research papers2.5% Smaller faculty number scores better. RANKINGS ANALYSIS 5

In depth understanding of methodology - 3 Total number of domestic and international academic faculty staff who are responsible for planning, directing and undertaking teaching only, research only or both teaching and research. Include: vice-chancellors, deputy vice-chancellors, principals, professors, heads of school, associate professors, assistant professor, principal lecturers, tutors or postdoctoral researchers. Exclude: research assistants, PhD students who contribute to teaching, hospital residents, exchange scholars or visiting faculty staff who are members of another university, faculty staff from off-shore campus. (deleted) Staff counted as “research only” should be academically involved, and likely to publish research outputs Staff not engaged academically and not likely to publish research outputs, such as lab technicians or equipment operators. QS – Definition of academic faculty staff (2012): Research staff can included, as long as they can publish their own research outputs. “Faculty staff from off-shore campus” can be included. RANKINGS ANALYSIS 6

Trend Analysis - 1 Maxed out in Internationalization (10%) Improved in Reputation (50%) Improved (20%) Worse (15%) Improved (15%) Rank in AUR HKUST4211 RANKINGS ANALYSIS 7

Trend Analysis - 2 RANKINGS ANALYSIS 8

Benchmarking - across indicators, universities and countries China Singapore Hong Kong Taiwan RANKINGS ANALYSIS 9

Benchmarking - across indicators, universities and countries Australia New Zealand Japan S. Korea RANKINGS ANALYSIS 10

Analyze Subject Rankings - 1 Rank*USTHKUCUHK Engineering & Technology Computer Science Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering1814- Electrical Engineering Mechanical Engineering RankUSTHKUCUHK Overall Engineering/Tech & Comp Sci Computer Science Mathematics--40 Chemistry Social Science Economics & Business Rank # USTHKU Overall6535 Engineering & Technology2343 Life Sciences-- Physical Sciences-- Clinical, Pre-Clinical & Health-36 Social Sciences5030 Arts & Humanities Engineering - Leading in Asia RANKINGS ANALYSIS 11

Rank*USTHKUCUHK Social Sciences & Management Statistics & Op Research Economics Accounting & Finance RankUSTHKUCUHK Overall Engineering/Tech & Comp Sci Computer Science Mathematics--40 Chemistry Social Science Economics & Business Rank # USTHKU Overall6535 Engineering & Technology2343 Life Sciences-- Physical Sciences-- Clinical, Pre-Clinical & Health-36 Social Sciences5030 Arts & Humanities-29 Kellogg-UST EMBA Program USTCUHKNUS Rank No. of articles Top 100 Business School Rankings RankUSTHKUCUHK Overall UST Full-time MBA Program Analyze Subject Rankings - 2 Leading in business research and business professional education RANKINGS ANALYSIS 12

Verify the Results - there might be errors! Top 100 Worldwide Economics Schools Research Ranking Old Rank7793 New Rank6059 Rank improved by 34 places RANKINGS ANALYSIS 13

Modeling, Simulation/Projection Result in 2011 (actual) Post 334 (projection) 1HKUSTNUS 2HKUHKUST 3NUSHKU 4U of Tokyo 5CUHKSeoul N U 6 Kyoto U 7 Osaka U 8 CUHK 9=Tohoku U 9=Tokyo IT 11KAIST 12POSTECH 13Peking U 14Nagoya U 15CityUTsinghua U 16Tsinghua UNTU 17NTUCityU 18=Kyushu U 18=Yonsei U 20Hokkaido U 21= Fudan U 21= NTU 23 Tsukuba 24= UST of China 24= Keio U 26 Korea U 27= Sungkyunkwan U 27= Zhejiang U 29 Nanjing U 30 PolyUTsing Hua U Student-Faculty Ratio vs Scores RANKINGS ANALYSIS 14

Engage with Ranking Agencies - 1 Hong KongTaiwan ChinaSingapore 2011 – introduction of discipline normalization and regional modification weightages RANKINGS ANALYSIS 15

Engage with Ranking Agencies - 2 S. Korea Germany France Japan RANKINGS ANALYSIS 16

Engage with Ranking Agencies - 3 New Zealand United States UK Australia RANKINGS ANALYSIS 17

Engage with Ranking Agencies - 4 QS AUR 2011 Papers per Faculty (15%)Citations per Paper (15%) Institution datascoredata score HKUST8.0  86.7  3.6  94.1  CUHK6.7  87.4  3.4  96.4  Damping Approach: smoothen out the impact of data changes. RANKINGS ANALYSIS 18

19 Limitation of Rankings Limitation of methodology – heavy reliance on reputation and perceptions HKUST ranked 96 th in HKUST ranked 107 th in RANKINGS ANALYSIS

Understand methodology  optimize results Key aspects assessed in rankings – Reputation – Teaching performance – Research productivity and impact – Internationalization – Funding and sources of incomes – Faculty and staff strength – Student numbers 20

RANKINGS STRATEGY BREAKOUT DISCUSSION In the context of Vietnam: – What are key opportunities for improvement? – What strategies and actions should be taken? – What issues are expected? Group sharing 21

RANKINGS STRATEGY Case Study – HKUST Reputation – Brand statements – International promotion – PR work Teaching performance – Incentives – Faculty appraisal 22

RANKINGS STRATEGY Case Study – HKUST Research productivity and impact – Seed large collaborative projects – Mainland research operations and collaborations Internationalization – Diversity in student recruitment – Global faculty recruitment – Student and faculty exchanges 23

RANKINGS STRATEGY Case Study – HKUST Funding and sources of incomes – Fundraising – Mainland funding sources – Large research funding Faculty and staff strength – Maintain / improve faculty-student ratio 24