Assist Prof Dr. Azher M. Abid, Head of Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Engineering Department at Al-Mustaqbal University College, has participated in a series of virtual workshops that have been arranged and administered by the International Organization of THE on “Global University Ranking”. These workshops have included essential topics related to the standards adopted in the ranking process, in addition to the mechanism of assessment and analysis of results followed by the organization.
In one of these workshops, the Head of THE Office, Professor Duncan Ross has talked about the assessment procedures since its establishment in 1971 for the purpose of supporting universities to globally identify their ranking. Such assessment shall enable students to distinguish, select and join the best universities with reference to the level of education and scientific research. Meanwhile, it provides opportunities for universities to develop relations with international institutions and industrial companies, which might include sponsoring research and innovations.
Indeed all these workshops have referred to the possibility of obtaining subsidies from international organizations in the field of applied research and scientific innovations to the extent that they could become pioneers in science and academic knowledge.
The workshops have investigated as well the procedures to be followed in collecting the required information from universities. These procedures are classified into three main dimensions: education, scientific research and sustainability. Besides, and during these workshops, there has been a review to some of the universities that have achieved advanced ranks in the classification. The importance of this ranking materializes indeed in essential issues, such as visibility, partnerships and recruitment.
Providing vacancies to the graduates of these universities has also been discussed, and this can be achieved if access of global companies to the classification website is facilitated, and being adopted as a standard in selecting and hiring their employees. Collaboration among universities is also vital and requisite, which could be implemented in different ways, including conferences, workshops as well as concluding academic and scientific agreements.
It is remarkable to note that “Benchmarking datasets” has been adopted as a basis of fair comparison and validation through the process of evaluating and ranking universities. An inclusive analysis has been adopted through the utilization of a specific methodology according which the assessment criteria depend on the type of university and how information could be collected about it, relying mainly on the data sent by universities, which include performance, reputation as well as the bibliometric data. Type and number of joint research, implemented with international universities shall be taken into consideration, in addition to the number of citations and impact factor of those academic papers.