1. Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014 Quality of rankings in the spotlight Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014 Waldemar Siwinski Vice President IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence

2. Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014 What is IREG Observatory IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence association of ranking organizations, and universities. Its goal - improvement of the quality of international and national ranking of higher education institutions. also: establishing a permanent system of discussion (opened to international community) and evaluation of different rankings, stimulating exchange of good practice in rankings. Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

3. First General Assembly Meeting, Warsaw 2010 What is IREG Observatory Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

4. IREG Executive Committee President: Jan Sadlak, f. Director, UNESCO-CEPES, Romania Vice-Presidents: Liu Nian Cai, Center for World-Class Universities, Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China Waldemar Siwiński, Perspektywy Education Foundation, Warsaw, Poland Gero Federkeil, CHE-Centre for Educational Development, Gütersloh, Germany Members: Paul Serban Agachi, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Michelle Cooper, Institute for Higher Education Policy Washington, DC, USA Ferdinand Devinsky, Slovak Academic Ranking and Rating Agency (ARRA), Bratislava, Slovakia Sholpan Kalanova, Independent Kazakhstan Quality Assurance Agency in Education, Kazakhstan Olesya Lynovytska, Scientific Research Institute of Applied Technologies, Kiev, Ukraine Marko Marhl, University of Maribor, Slovenia Robert J. Morse, U.S. News & World Report, Washington, DC, USA Victor Antonovich Sadovnichy, Lomonosov Moscov State University, Russia Managing Director: Kazimierz Bilanow, Poland www.ireg-observatory.org What is IREG Observatory Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

5. Main goal – Quality of rankings IREG Observatory cares about the quality of rankings an it: organizes international conferences on rankings, establishes standards of good practice in the field of rankings (see: Berlin Principles on Ranking of Higher Education Institution), organizes ranking audits (on voluntary basis), plays active role, as a consultant in the preparation of new national and international rankings. What IREG Observatory doing Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

6. IREG Conferences Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

7. IREG Conferences Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

8. Invitation to London See you in London Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

9. Berlin Principles on Ranking Be clear about purpose and target groups Provide clarity about sources Specify linguistic, cultural, economic, and historical contexts Be transparent regarding methodology Pay due attention to ethical standards and good practice Use audited and verifiable data Apply measures of quality assurance Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

10. Standards in ranking IREG RANKING AUDIT Audit, conducted by independent academic teams: verifies if a ranking under review is done professionally, observes good practices and provides students, their parents and employers with the information allowing them to compare and assess programs offered by higher education institutions. Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

11. Background: Growing number of national and intl rankings Increasing relevance/impact of rankings Many users lack deep understanding of rankings and their methodologies Purpose: Enhance transparency of ranking process Give users a tool to identify trustworthy rankings Improve the quality of rankings IREG Ranking Audit Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

12. General principles: Overall responsibility lies with IREG Executive Committee Procedures guarantee maximum transparency and impartiality Procedures follow good practices developed in quality assurance systems (accreditation) Audit of individual rankings, not of ranking organisations IREG Ranking Audit Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

13. The IREG Ranking Audit Process Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

14. Perspektywy First completed audits QS

15. Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014 Awarding ceremony, May 2013 Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014 First completed audits

16. Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014 Wise man motto Albert Einstein: – Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014

17. Thank you Waldemar Siwinski w.siwinski@ireg-observatory.org w.siwinski@ireg-observatory.org www.ireg-observatory.org Education and global cities, St. Petersburg, March 2014