Indicators of Higher Education and the Public Good in Africa: A Dashboard Approach

Indicators and metrics have gained increasing prominence in international higher education in recent years, and global rankings have become a powerful force in shaping ideas of what the university is and should be. Yet these measures do a poor job of capturing the broad role of the institution, and particularly in recognising its actions in promoting the public good and addressing inequalities. African higher education institutions have struggled to perform well in the conventional rankings, whose indicators rely on extensive resources for high-level research. This article explores the possibilities of alternative metrics for understanding the public good contribution of universities in the context of four African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. After assessing the shortcomings of the existing indicators and metrics, and the challenges of the availability of data, it puts forward a dashboard approach as a possible new model. Dashboards have the advantage of avoiding the conflation of diverse qualities of importance and allow different profiles of an institution to be compared. The article proposes six main elements for the dashboard: solidarity with society, equitable access and deliberative space (which correspond to the intrinsic notion of public good and graduate destinations, knowledge production and community engagement (which correspond to instrumental notions). Finally, the challenges of implementing public good metrics in practice are discussed

Sistema de Classificação e o Futuro da Pesquisa local

World university rankings and their global popularity present a number of far-reaching impacts for vernacular scholarship. This article employs a multidimensional approach to analyze the ranking regime’s threat to local scholarship and knowledge construction through a study of Japanese research universities. First, local conditions that have led to the perpetuation of the world university rankings are examined. Next, the use of bibliometric indicators in performance assessment, a critical consequence of the popularization of the world university rankings, is tested against two prevailing factors in Japanese academia: the bipolar character of academic publishing and institution-centered audit. Despite high-flying idealism, the quest to improve positions in the rankings may fall short of addressing real needs of enhancing individual performance in pursuit of globally relevant research and ensuring equity among different generations of scholars. The study also points to the precarious future of vernacular scholarship, as the rankings celebrate audit culture and export its norms as well as an increasingly inward-looking propensity of Anglo-American academic circles to the rest of the world.los rankings universitarios mundiales y su popularidad mundial presentan una serie de impactos de largo alcance para la Investigación Local. Este artículo utiliza un enfoque multidimensional para analizar la amenaza del régimen de clasificación para la inviestigación local y la construcción del conocimiento a través de un estudio de las universidades de investigación japoneses. En primer lugar, se examinan las condiciones locales que han llevado a la perpetuación de los rankings de universidades del mundo. A continuación, el uso de indicadores bibliométricos en la evaluación del desempeño, una consecuencia importante de la popularización de los rankings de universidades del mundo, se comprueba frente a dos factores predominantes en el mundo académico japonés: el carácter bipolar de la edición universitaria y la auditoría centrada en la institución. A pesar de un gran nivel de idealismo, la búsqueda de mejorar posiciones en la clasificación puede caer por debajo de las necesidades reales de mejorar el rendimiento individual en la búsqueda de la investigación relevante a nivel mundial y garantizar la equidad entre las diferentes generaciones de estudiosos. El estudio también señala la precariedad de la investigación a nivel local, ya que la clasificación celebra la cultura de auditoría y exportan sus normas , así como una tendencia cada vez más auto-centrada de los círculos académicos angloamericanos que ignoran el resto del mundo.rankings universitarios mundiais e a sua popularidade no mundo inteiro apresentam uma série de impactos de longo alcance para a Pesquisa Local. Este artigo utiliza uma abordagem multidimensional para analisar o esquema de classificação ameaça para a aprendizagem local e construção do conhecimento através de um estudo de universidades de pesquisa japoneses. Em primeiro lugar, são discutidas as condições locais que levaram para a perpetuação do ranking mundial de universidades. Em seguida, o uso de indicadores bibliométricos na avaliação de desempenho, uma importante conseqüência da popularização dos rankings de universidades do mundo, é testado contra dois fatores predominantes no mundo acadêmico japonês : a natureza bipolar da publicação universidade e auditoria centrada na instituição. Apesar de um alto nível de idealismo , buscando melhorar o ranking pode cair abaixo as reais necessidades de melhorar o desempenho individual na busca de pesquisas relevantes em todo o mundo e assegurar a equidade entre as diferentes gerações de estudiosos . O estudo também destaca a precariedade da investigação local, uma vez que a classificação celebra a cultura de auditoria e exportar suas normas, bem como uma tendência cada vez mais acadêmicos egocêntricos anglo-americanos que ignoram o resto do mundo

Informational analysis of international university rankings

This work on the informational analysis of international rankings is motivated by the fact that international university rankings are increasing their impact and importance. Given their diversity of origins, purposes and procedures, it makes sense to try to increase their knowledge and understanding by clearly defining and comparing them from an informational stance. This research-orientated master thesis (master final project or TFM) addresses this purpose, by aiming at a clear and comparative definition of both the information managed by those rankings, as well as their respective processes for capturing, processing and publishing their results. These comparative definitions are carried using the Method for informational analysis of university rankings derived and designed from the experience of pursing the analysis work within this master thesis. At the same time, this method allows to assess transparency on rankings and helps to clarify the focus of the information used for rank universities

The impact of journal editors in academic publications: A stochastic frontier analysis

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Knowledge Management and Business IntelligenceSince the task of deciding whether a research work is published or not is carried out by journal editors, the composition and attributes of editorial board members are relevant variables to be investigated. In particular, when trying to understand if the scientific knowledge shared with the world is impacted by other factors instead of being judged solely by the quality and content of the research. Hence, this research analyses the composition of editorial teams from 27 journals in three main areas – Economics & Econometrics, Finance, and Business & International Management - and their influence on the efficiency of such journals. After collecting the data required to perform this study, the composition and characteristics of editorial board members, as well as an analysis aiming to identify patterns between editors’ characteristics and the context and impact of scientific publication journals were carried out. Some of the data collected about the editors and journals for the analyses were the gender, geography, affiliated institution, publisher’s categories, position in those categories, H-index, and SCImago Journal Rank. The gathered data was then used to build a Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model to analyze journals’ efficiency, as input. The SFA allows us to develop a multi-input single-output scenario. Primary findings suggest that the performance of research journals’ is influenced by the size of the editorial board, gender, and location but not by the performance of each editor as an individual. There is an overwhelming presence of US-based, male, and academic editors among the editorial boards as well as US institutions represented by scholars. The results show that economics and finance journals tend to be more efficient than business journals and that the research industry, despite having a small margin to improve, appears to be efficient

Study on open science: The general state of the play in Open Science principles and practices at European life sciences institutes

Nowadays, open science is a hot topic on all levels and also is one of the priorities of the European Research Area. Components that are commonly associated with open science are open access, open data, open methodology, open source, open peer review, open science policies and citizen science. Open science may a great potential to connect and influence the practices of researchers, funding institutions and the public. In this paper, we evaluate the level of openness based on public surveys at four European life sciences institute

Congress UPV Proceedings of the 21ST International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators

This is the book of proceedings of the 21st Science and Technology Indicators Conference that took place in València (Spain) from 14th to 16th of September 2016. The conference theme for this year, ‘Peripheries, frontiers and beyond’ aimed to study the development and use of Science, Technology and Innovation indicators in spaces that have not been the focus of current indicator development, for example, in the Global South, or the Social Sciences and Humanities. The exploration to the margins and beyond proposed by the theme has brought to the STI Conference an interesting array of new contributors from a variety of fields and geographies. This year’s conference had a record 382 registered participants from 40 different countries, including 23 European, 9 American, 4 Asia-Pacific, 4 Africa and Near East. About 26% of participants came from outside of Europe. There were also many participants (17%) from organisations outside academia including governments (8%), businesses (5%), foundations (2%) and international organisations (2%). This is particularly important in a field that is practice-oriented. The chapters of the proceedings attest to the breadth of issues discussed. Infrastructure, benchmarking and use of innovation indicators, societal impact and mission oriented-research, mobility and careers, social sciences and the humanities, participation and culture, gender, and altmetrics, among others. We hope that the diversity of this Conference has fostered productive dialogues and synergistic ideas and made a contribution, small as it may be, to the development and use of indicators that, being more inclusive, will foster a more inclusive and fair world

Evolutionary Computation 2020

Intelligent optimization is based on the mechanism of computational intelligence to refine a suitable feature model, design an effective optimization algorithm, and then to obtain an optimal or satisfactory solution to a complex problem. Intelligent algorithms are key tools to ensure global optimization quality, fast optimization efficiency and robust optimization performance. Intelligent optimization algorithms have been studied by many researchers, leading to improvements in the performance of algorithms such as the evolutionary algorithm, whale optimization algorithm, differential evolution algorithm, and particle swarm optimization. Studies in this arena have also resulted in breakthroughs in solving complex problems including the green shop scheduling problem, the severe nonlinear problem in one-dimensional geodesic electromagnetic inversion, error and bug finding problem in software, the 0-1 backpack problem, traveler problem, and logistics distribution center siting problem. The editors are confident that this book can open a new avenue for further improvement and discoveries in the area of intelligent algorithms. The book is a valuable resource for researchers interested in understanding the principles and design of intelligent algorithms

PRIMUS/Informed Cities: Making research work for local sustainability

The final report of a three year European Commission FP7 project

Analyzing the University of Kentucky’s Top 20 Business Plan

The purpose of this study is to begin laying a foundation for assessing the degree of progress the University of Kentucky (UK) has made toward the goals defined in the Top 20 Business Plan. The plan was created to guide the university’s efforts in becoming a top twenty public research institution by 2020 per a mandate by the Kentucky General Assembly. Up to two strategies and/or policy suggestions were chosen for analysis for each of the four major domains outlined in the plan (undergraduate education, graduate education, faculty recognition, and research). Academic quality indicators were then developed for these strategies and policies and UK’s standing was compared to its Top 20 Benchmark institutions. Results of the assessment are presented and discussed for all indicators on which data was successfully collected. These results are broken into three sections. The first section shows trend charts over time for many of the indicators for both UK and the benchmark median to see if any changes have occurred after the plan was implemented. The second section analyzes UK’s own numbers to see where it stands in comparison to the goals it set in the plan to be met by a particular date. In the third section a sample publication is introduced that includes graphics for all of the indicators for the most recent year in which data was available. An analysis of the trends reveals that UK has made some improvements when looking at before and after the plan was introduced. Nonetheless, when these numbers are compared to the benchmark median, the university has made little to no progress in closing the gap and thus improving its Top 20 ranking. When comparing UK’s progress against the goals set for itself in the Top 20 Business Plan, the outlook could definitely be better, as reaching most of its goals will require a sizeable effort by the university. While it can be argued that UK’s Top 20 Business Plan is having an impact, it can also be stated that this impact has not been sizeable enough to make a difference when comparisons are made to the university’s benchmark institutions, especially when the university is failing to reach many of the milestones it set for itself to reach by a certain date. Accompanying this analysis is a sample publication that depicts graphically UK’s most recent progress, illustrating how UK stacks up against the institutions that comprise the benchmark median. Further study is needed, however, to verify the conclusions drawn from the results, as the analysis was limited due to the size and scope of the plan and provides only a narrow view of the university’s efforts to reach Top 20 status

Policy Performance and Governance Capacities in the OECD and EU. Sustainable Governance Indicators 2018. Bertelsmann Studies

This year marks the release of the third edition of the Sustainable Governance Indicators (SGI). The highly developed industrial nations continue to face enormous challenges, due not only to aftereffects of the global economic and financial crisis and the associated labor-market and sociopolitical upheavals. In other areas too, these nations look forward to a future rife with complex problems. Aging and shrinking populations, environmental and climatic changes, and social, cultural and technological shifts are placing democracies under massive pressure to adapt. As early as the first edition of the SGI, it was evident that despite often-similar reform pressures, political systems’ approaches and track records show significant variance. And in times of advancing globalization, the need for effective governance driven by capable leadership remains important. The previous SGI editions have also underscored the fact that this steering capability depends critically on the ability to combine short-term responsiveness with long-term resolve in policymaking