1. Serbia in the Rankings Professor Ellen Hazelkorn
Director, Higher Education Policy Research Unit (HEPRU), Education Consultant, BH Associates, (Ireland).
Global University Rankings and Their Impact, Belgrade
7 November 2017

2. THE BRICs and Emerging Economies
Serbia in the Rankings
Main rankings: University of Belgrade features in most of the major rankings (ARWU, QS, World University Rankings, Leiden, but not THE).
Specialist rankings: University of Novi Sad also features in Leiden and QS Eastern Europe and Central Asia (QS EECA) ranking.
U-Multirank: 4 universities included.
2018
2017
2016
2015
ARWU
University of Belgrade
n/a
QS World
701+
QS EECA 54 66 -
University of Novi Sad
THE BRICs and Emerging Economies
196
150

3. University of Belgrade
Shanghai ARWU
Type of Ranking: Entirely research focused, does not consider teaching/learning.
Methodology focuses research via, e.g. prize winning staff and alumni, papers published in Nature and Science, etc.
University of Belgrade the only Serbian HEI that features in the Shanghai ARWU ranking.
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
University of Belgrade

4. Shanghai ARWU: Methodology
Source:

5. Shanghai ARWU: U Belgrade

6. University of Belgrade
QS Rankings
Type of Ranking: Mixed between reputation surveys (academic and employer), SSR, Bibliometrics (using Elsevier’s Scopus).
University of Belgrade only Serbian HEI in this ranking, in the same bracket for the last few years.
Academic Reputation
Employer Reputation
Faculty Student Ratio
Citations Per Faculty
Int’l Faculty
Int’l Students
40%
10%
20% 5%
2018
2017
2016
2015
QS World
University of Belgrade
701+

7. University of Belgrade
QS EECA
Reputation has the same weighting (50%) but greater focus on employers.
International factors at 5 rather than 10%.
Web impact included unlike in the main QS WUR ranking (using Webometrics)
Academic Reputation
Employer Reputation
Faculty Student Ratio
Papers Per Faculty
Web Impact
Staff with a PhD
Citations Per Paper
Int’l Faculty
Int’l Student
30%
20%
15%
10% 5%
2.5%
2018
2017
2016
2015
QS EECA
University of Belgrade 54 66 -
University of Novi Sad

8. International Outlook
THE Rankings
Type of Ranking: Mixed, using bibliometrics (Elsevier’s Scopus), survey, other data.
No Serbian HEI features in the THE World University Ranking.
University of Belgrade is in the THE BRICs and Emerging Economies University Ranking (at 196 in 2017).
Methodology (more detail next slide)
Citations
Industry Income
International Outlook
Research
Teaching
20%
10%
30%

9. THE BRICs and Emerging Economies Ranking

10. THE BRICs and Emerging Economies Ranking
Three “types” of country included:
Advanced emerging: Brazil, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey
Secondary emerging: Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, UAE
Frontier: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Palestine, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Vietnam
Has a greater focus on Teaching than the main rankings, and less reliance on reputation surveys.

11. Leiden
Type of ranking: Bibliometric, using Thomson Reuters Web of Science database.
Publications must: (i) be written in English, (ii) have one or more authors, (iii) hasn’t been retracted, (iv) has appeared in a “Core Journal”.
A “core journal” has an international scope, with sufficient citations of other core journals (this makes citation analysis possible).
Bibliometrics is a lagging indicator, and it takes several years to see improvement (which is why Leiden uses 3-year periods).
Both Belgrade and Novi Sad have been improving in recent years
University of Belgrade
155
166
185
University of Novi Sad
721
732
761

12. U-Multirank
Type of ranking: user-defined, institutional characteristics.
The Universities of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Educons have submitted data and are featured.
Can compare for subject area, university as a whole, level of study, research focus, international outlook, regional focus, size of institution.
Allows for quick, visual comparison (as below), or ratings across a variety of areas (research, teaching and learning, international outlook, etc.)

13. U-Multirank Can look at 3 HEIs at a time in the “Compare” option
Belgrade Novi Sad Kragujevac

14. U-Multirank
Belgrade Novi Sad Kragujevac
Belgrade Novi Sad Kragujevac

15. U-Multirank
“For students” option allows for more comparisons to be made:

16. Comparison Countries ARWU QS WUR QS EECA THE WUR THE BRICs & EE Leiden
Number of Universities: Serbia 17; Bulgaria 41; Belarus 23.
[Source: studyinserbia.rs, studyinbulgaria.com, studyinbelarus.com.ng]
GDP per capita (2016): Serbia 5, USD; Bulgaria 7, USD; Belarus 5, USD.
[Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database]
Population (2017): Serbia 8,790,574; Bulgaria 7,084,571; Belarus 9,468,338.
[Source United Nations World Population Prospects 2017 revision]
Number of universities in main relevant rankings:
ARWU
QS WUR
QS EECA
THE WUR
THE BRICs & EE
Leiden
U-Multirank
Belarus 2 1 5
Bulgaria 3 11
Serbia 4

17. Implications
DATA: More/all Serbian universities should endeavour to supply data to U-Multirank.
RESEARCH: Consider supports for academics to publish through English for inclusion in the “core journals” featured in databases such as Scopus, Web of Science.
BIBLIOMETRICS: Engage with Elsevier and Thomson Reuters to ensure that relevant Serbian journals are indexed in these databases.
INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK: Internationalisation is a feature of the major rankings, and an improvement in the ratios of international to local staff and students can be improved through targeted recruitment.
REPUTATION: University of Belgrade does well in ARWU, but less so in QS WUR and doesn’t appear in THE WUR at all. Both THE and QS rely on reputation surveys, so this count against Serbian HEIs.