1. ACADEMIC RANKING OF WORLD UNIVERSITIES ACADEMIC RANKING OF WORLD UNIVERSITIES

2. INTRODUCTION The “university ranking” is an American invention. The West ranks hospitals, schools and universities. Hotels are ranked and classified according to stars. Ranking is normally conducted through survey processes. The university ranking is part of human nature to set hierarchies. It is also the nature of contemporary world functions due to the globalization impact. Higher education is complex, costly and important, and it always attracts many attentions of politicians, employers, potential students as well as their families. They need quantified evidences about “quality and performance”.

3. CURRENT ACADEMIC RANKING OF WORLD UNIVERSITIES CURRENT ACADEMIC RANKING OF WORLD UNIVERSITIES

4. THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT UNIVERSITY RANKING Advantages Ranking can give advantages to universities for the following reasons: 1.Universities have Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure their performances. 2.Ranking will become self-improvement tools for universities. 3.Ranking can foster healthy competition among higher education institutions. Disadvantages Whereas the disadvantages of university ranking are as follows: 1.Measurement is not based on category or university’s objectives. 2.Results of ranking can give impacts to staff’s and students’ motivation.

5. Dilemma of Ranking In the ranking exercises, the following matters should be taken into consideration: 1.Ranking must be based on the same categories “homogeneous”. 2.Public Universities need to fulfill national agenda which is not taken into account in the ranking exercise. 3.Most ranking systems are driven by the commercial need to sell more publications. 4.Rankings are something of a self-fulfilling prophecy: reputation is considered a significant factor. 5.There is always data manipulation to place well on rankings. 6.Many data collecting exercises are driven by the information that is available rather than the information that is necessary to accurately gauge the level to which an institution meets particular quality criteria. 7.Ranking should not count factors that are proxy for quality. 8.Ranking must not ignore universities’ missions and goals which are different between one university to another. 9.Ranking cannot assume “one size fits all” which norms of research universities are the gold standard.

6. Frequent Asked Questions How to ensure that the data provided conforms to the questionnaire for best advantage? How to develop your university’s strategy to maintain or improve your ranking? Why does World Ranking increase student numbers and revenue? How ranked universities can attract the most talented student and faculty? How to globalize your institution?

7. TYPES OF RANKING PROVIDERS  Media  Government Agencies  Independent Professional Bodies  Accrediting Bodies  Funding Organizations  Individual/Group Initiatives  Academic Themselves

8. WHY THE NEED FOR RANKINGS? Higher Education is becoming more global. Knowledge is the key driver of international competitiveness. Ranking will raise awareness of institutions / universities being ranked. International Study Trends show that world wide demand for education is on the rise. Public funding is being slashed, so one source of funding is from international students. In some countries international students’ contribution to the economy is higher than the other sectors.

9. CRITERIA OF UNIVERSITY RANKING CRITERIA OF UNIVERSITY RANKING

10. CRITERIA OF TOP UNIVERSITIES CRITERIASTANDARD INDICATORS BEING USED ResearchAmount of research grants received No. of research products / recognitions conferred by national and international bodies No. of papers refereed and cited in refereed journals No. of articles, books and publications per staff No. of patents attained No. of products commercialized No. of postdoctoral TeachingRatio of academic staff to students No. of programmes accredited by professional bodies Infrastrucure% of equipment fully operational and calibrated or physical facilities that meet safety and quality standards No. of book titles in the Library Human ResourceNo. of academic staff with PhD or equivalent % of results from “Peer Review”

11. CRITERIASTANDARD INDICATORS BEING USED ConsultancyIncome generated from consultancy activities InternationalizationNo. of international academic staff No. of international students StudentsCGPA of students admitted into the University % of graduates employed after graduation % of results from Employer Survey No. of University Alumni awarded “Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals” No. of PhD students Service DeliveryCompliance to International Quality Standard i.e. ISO9000 QMS % of Customer Satisfaction Index

12. CRITERIA OF WORLD UNIVERSITIES Ranking BodiesCriteria IndicatorWeight Times Higher Education Survey Research Quality Peer Review : Composite score drawn from peer review (which is divided into 5 subject areas) 40% Citations per Faculty : Score based on research performance factored against the size of the research body 20% Graduate Employability Recruiter Review : Score based on responses to recruiter survey 10% International Outlook International Faculty : Score based on international faculty 5% International Students : Score based on proportion of international students 5% Teaching Quality Student Faculty : Score based on student/faculty ratio 20%

13. Ranking BodiesCriteria IndicatorWeight Shanghai Jiao Tong World University Ranking Quality of Education Alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals 10% Quality of Faculty Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals 20% Highly cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories 20% Research Output Articles published in Nature and Science20% Articles in Science Citation Index- expanded, Social Science Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index 20% Size of Institution Academic performance with respect to the size of an institution 10%

14. Ranking Bodies CriteriaIndicatorWeight Research University Quantity and Quality of Researchers Critical Mass60% of academic staff involved as Principal Investigator Percentage of Academic Staff with PhD or Equivalent 60% Research ExperienceWith balanced distribution of staff with >20 yrs experience, 10-20 yrs and <10 yrs experience Number of recognitions/awards/ stewardsip conferred by national and international learned and professional bodies 100 Quantity and Quality of Research Publications2 papers in national/international refereed and cited journals per staff/yr or cumulative impact factor for the institution of not less than 5000 Research grants for S&T academic staff: a)Public b)Private (including contract research) c)International At RM50,000/staff/yr of which at least 20% is from international sources and 20% from private sector Research ExpenditureShould not be less than 60% of grants attained/yr Post-docs appointed10/yr

15. Ranking Bodies CriteriaIndicatorWeight Quantity of Postgraduate Ratio of PhDs graduated to academic staff1:18 academic staff of which 60% will be from S&T Ratio of PG to academic staff3 PG : 1 staff Ratio of PG to UG1 PG : 4 UG % of International Postgraduate Students10% Quality of Postgraduate Students % of PG Intake50% of PG Intake with CGPA > 3.00 % of PG fellowships/grants from prestigious bodies awarded to PG via research mode Not less than 10% InnovationNumber of patents attained/number of products commercialized/number of technology know-how licensing/number of IPR/copyrights 30/yr Professional Services and Gifts Income generated from training courses/services/consultancy/PG students fees/endowment/gifts Not less than RM20 million/yr Networking and Linkages Inter-institution (national) participation70% Inter-institution (international) participation30% Support Facilities Equipment fully operational and calibrated or physical facilities met safety & quality standards, supporting facilities 75% compliance attained

16. Ranking Bodies CriteriaIndicatorWeight World Class Research University Quantity and Quality of Researchers Critical Mass85% of academic staff involved as Principal Investigator Percentage of Academic Staff with PhD or Equivalent 95% Research ExperienceWith 60% distribution of staff with >20 yrs experience, 20% with 10-20 yrs and 20% with <10 yrs experience Number of recognitions/awards/ stewardsip conferred by national and international learned and professional bodies 500 Quantity and Quality of Research Publications5 papers in national/international refereed and cited journals per staff/yr or cumulative impact factor for the institution of not less than 5000 Research grants for S&T academic staff: a)Public b)Private (including contract research) c)International At RM1,000,000/staff/yr of which at least 40% is from international sources and 40% from private sector Research ExpenditureShould not be less than 70% of grants attained/yr Post-docs appointed1 post-doc per academic staff

17. Ranking Bodies CriteriaIndicatorWeight Quantity of Postgraduate Ratio of PhDs graduated to academic staff1:3 academic staff of which 80% will be from S&T Ratio of PG to academic staff5 PG : 1 staff Ratio of PG to UG4 PG : 6 UG % of International Postgraduate Students15% Quality of Postgraduate Students % of PG Intake50% of PG Intake with CGPA > 3.25 % of PG fellowships/grants from prestigious bodies awarded to PG via research mode Not less than 20% InnovationNumber of patents attained/number of products commercialized/number of technology know-how licensing/number of IPR/copyrights 100/yr Professional Services and Gifts Income generated from training courses/services/consultancy/PG students fees/endowment/gifts Not less than RM600 million/yr Networking and Linkages Inter-institution (national) participation50% Inter-institution (international) participation50% Support Facilities Equipment fully operational and calibrated or physical facilities met safety & quality standards, supporting facilities 95% compliance attained

18. Ranking BodiesCriteria Australian University Ranking Teaching Quality Rating Research Rating Entry Standards Students per member of academic staff Library/Computing Spending Student Facilities Spending Degree Classifications Graduate Destinations Completion Rate Newsweek International Criteria from Shanghai Jiao Tong : 50% Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals Articles published in Nature and Science Articles in Science Citation Index-expanded, Social Science Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index Criteria from Times Higher World University Ranking : 40% % of international academic staff % of international students Ratio of academic staff to students Score based on research performance factored against the size of the research body Criteria of Library : 10% No. of volumes in the university library

19. Ranking Bodies Criteria IndicatorWeight OIC RankingResearch (50) Research Quality15 Research Performance15 Research Volume8 Rate of growth for research quality5 Rate of growth for research performance 5 Patents2

20. Ranking Bodies Criteria IndicatorWeight Education (35)Faculty members with awards6 Faculty highly cited researchers8 Ratio of faculty members with PhD to total number of faculty 4 Alumni that did win awards3 Alumni that become highly cited researchers 3 Ratio faculty to students3 Ratio of postgraduate students to total number of students 2 Rate of growth of postgraduate students 3 Students winning international Olympiads 3

21. Ranking Bodies Criteria IndicatorWeight International Outlook (7) Ratio of international faculty to total faculty 2 Ratio of international students to total students 1 Ratio of faculty members with foreign PhD degrees to total number of faculty members with PhD degrees 1 ½ International Conferences1 ½ International Exchange Programmes1

22. Ranking Bodies Criteria IndicatorWeight Facilities (3)Number of book titles per student1 Number of journals/periodicals accessible (hard or soft copies) 1 Number of university’s research Institutes/Centres 1 Socio- Economic Impact (5) Contracts and consultancies incomes2 ½ Life learning courses1 Entrepreneurship programmes and industrial linkages 1 Number of incubated projects and spin- off companies 1/2

23. IMPROVEMENTS TO CURRENT CRITERIA  Purposes and goals of the rankings  Should recognize the diversity of institutions and take into account their different missions and goals (ranking tends to ignore these issues).  Design and weighting of indicators  Be transparent regarding the methodology used for creating the rankings.  Appropriate ways of measuring outcomes, such as retention and graduation rates, scores on examinations, etc.  Collection and processing of data  Use audited and verifiable data whenever possible.  Presentation of ranking results  Provide consumers with clear understanding of all factors used to develop ranking, and offer them a choice in how rankings are displayed such as by allowing them to determine how factors are weighed on interactive web sites. Sources “Berlin Principles on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions” -

24. PROCEDURES AND MECHANISMS FOR UNIVERSITY SELECTION  Assign universities with the same groups of their peers.  Academic reputation & research outputs.  Faculty and student diversity and background.  Webpage becomes impact factor, i.e. volumes of published materials on the web.

25. “If we don’t produce our own ranking, don’t be surprised that others are going to do it for us”