On June 22, 2022, the results of the Perspektywy Ranking of Higher Education Institutions and Ranking of Majors were officially announced. The University of Gdańsk has risen spectacularly by 7 positions and is now the 16th higher education institution in Poland and 6th among universities.
Such a good result of the University of Gdańsk in the Perspektywy 2022 Academic Schools Ranking is commented on with satisfaction by the Rector, prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski: - 'Another leap forward of the University of Gdańsk in the ranking is obviously a reason to be happy, but most of all it confirms that we are on the right path of development. I would like to remind you that when I took over the position of rector, the university was ranked 28th, so within two years we managed to move up 12 places and today it is the best position in the history of UG in the Perspektywy ranking. We know, however, that we can do better and we will do everything to strengthen our position in the years to come. We are also aware that not all implemented measures at UG bring immediate effects. Some of the effects, e.g. in the area of scientific excellence, will appear only after some time.'
Success would not be possible without the commitment of UG employees: - 'I would like to thank the entire community of our Alma Mater for such fantastic work in recent years for the development of our university,' - added the Rector.
Internationalisation plays a significant role in the indicators taken into account in the ranking. In this field, we also recorded an increase. In this respect the University of Gdańsk, in the areas led by the Vice-Rector for International Cooperation dr hab. Anna Jurkowska - Zeidler, prof. UG put a lot of work into, among others, activities for coastal universities in the SEA EU partnership. The culmination of this cooperation and the closing of the first stage was the recently completed joint research cruise on the UG Oceanograf vessel. It was the first time that researchers from partner universities, students and doctoral students had the opportunity to conduct joint research on such a large scale on sea waters.
The improvement in internationalisation indicators also means an increase in the pace of activities in other aspects connected with the development of foreign cooperation.
- 'In the competition for applications in the higher education sector, Action KA131 concluded in 2022, the University of Gdańsk received the third-largest budget among Polish universities participating in the Erasmus+ programme,' - emphasises the Vice-Rector prof. UG Anna Jurkowska - Zeidler. - 'In the academic year 2022/2023, the offer of master's studies conducted in English was also extended by two new majors: Economics with a specialisation in Logistics and Mobility and Chemistry with a specialisation in Digital Chemistry.'
The activities that translate into success of the University of Gdańsk from the perspective of internationalisation are summarised by Dominika Brulińska, Head of the International Cooperation Office: - 'The University of Gdańsk is dynamically developing cooperation with foreign research and teaching centres. In 2019-2021, new university-wide cooperation agreements with scientific centres abroad were signed. A total of 50 agreements have been signed over three years with various institutions from Brazil, China, Georgia, India, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Norway, Romania, Ukraine, USA, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia, Canada, Germany, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Taiwan and Uzbekistan. The University of Gdańsk hosts scientists from all over the world under international scholarship programmes. The 'Visiting Professors programme has been launched with the aim of internationalising scientific research and teaching at our University. It provides an opportunity to build the foundations of cooperation, including joint publications, research and academic exchange, as well as to improve language skills and make the forms and methods of classes more attractive to students. In 2021, the University of Gdańsk was selected to participate in the LOTUS Leadership Development programme as part of the EU-funded LOTUS project (Leadership and Organisation for Teaching and Learning at European Universities). As part of the project, our university will work together with European higher education institutions to address challenges in priority growth areas for reform in the European Higher Education Area. We have also received funding from NAWA for activities related to strengthening the internationalisation of the university, such as the programmes: Welcome to Poland and Promotion of Polish Language.'
Another improvement in our position, apart from 'Academic prestige', was noted in the criterion 'Scientific efficiency'. This is the result of intensive, concrete actions, about which talks the Director of the Science Office, dr Katarzyna Świerk: - 'Scientific development is reflected in the quantity and quality of articles and scientific monographs. This year, we completed the last stage of the evaluation of the quality of scientific activity covering the period 2017-2021, which contributed to the increased publication activity of UG employees and PhD students. Not only the quantity but above all the quality of publications measured by citability, visibility and prestige of the journal is noticeable. The increase in publication activity of scientists from the University of Gdansk is one of the effects of the implementation of support programmes under IDUB. In the last year alone, the UG Publication Programme has subsidised 115 applications for publication and open access costs and granted 921 financial awards for publishing scientific work in prestigious journals or publishers. Researchers were very active in the small grants programme - UGrants, in which four competitions were established - start/first/bridge/advanced depending on the advancement of the scientific career. Last year, 128 projects were funded for preliminary research and preparatory activities aimed at planning a research project and acquiring external funding for its implementation. The Programme for the Support of the Gdańsk Humanities and the development of UG scientific journals also contribute to the development of research, especially in the humanities and social sciences. The pro-quality approach translates into better visibility of UG in national and world science.'
The increase in the score for this criterion is also due to activities leading to greater effectiveness in obtaining external funding for research.
- 'The University of Gdańsk consistently remains at the forefront of universities raising the most funds in the country. In 2021, under Horizon 2020, the number of funded projects, compared to the previous year, increased from 4 to 7. Additionally, in the National Science Centre alone, in 2021 the number of applications qualified for funding for the University of Gdańsk amounted to PLN 54,940,808 (in 2020 - PLN 44,477,276). There is also an increasing interest in scientists from outside UG who want to carry out projects at our University. In 2021, 12 scientists from outside UG submitted project applications, 2 projects were transferred from other universities, and another 4 projects are currently awaiting transfer,' - points out Agnieszka Ożóg, Director of the Office for Scientific Projects.
Progress was also recorded in the Innovation criterion at the University of Gdańsk. This criterion is defined by indicators for the number of obtained national and foreign patents (the source of data is POL-on) and the indicator reflecting the university's contribution to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals through the prism of publications indexed in the Scopus database.
- 'This increase in scores was possible primarily thanks to the intensive efforts of the Centre for Sustainable Development, headed by Director dr hab. Sylwia Mrozowska, prof. UG. Involvement in significant programmes, such as "Young employees for offshore wind energy", or the joint project with NAWA "Narratives for sustainable development - the Polish perspective", or support for international cooperation enabling the transfer of knowledge and skills necessary for the implementation of tasks stemming from the SDGs, work for sustainable development within the SEA EU partnership, or finally the launch of the highly popular postgraduate programme "Education for sustainable development: Offshore wind energy "are just a small part of the Centre's activities for sustainable development, so important for the future of not only the university but also society. I would like to thank the Director and the whole team, including prof. Dorota Pyć and dr Irena Chawrilska, for their hard work,' - summed up Rector prof. Piotr Stepnowski.
We are also glad to see an improvement in the position of majors conducted at the University of Gdańsk, about which you can read in a separate article.
Methodology and new indicators
Ranking of Academic Schools, prepared by Educational Foundation 'Perspektywy' for the XXIII time, is based on the same methodology as last year, while maintaining the same set of seven criteria and their weights. The main criteria and their weights in the final evaluation are scientific effectiveness (28%), scientific potential and internationalisation (both with a weight of 15% in the final evaluation), prestige, graduates in the labour market (both with a weight of 12%), education conditions (10%) and innovation (8%).
Perspektywy Educational Foundation obtains data for the ranking partly from universities, but mainly from POL-on System and Scopus database, where SciVal analytical system is used for advanced bibliometric analysis.
Full methodology including precise indicators within each criterion is available under the link:
https://2022.ranking.perspektywy.pl/2022/article/metodologia-rankingu-uczelni-akademickich-2022r
Ranking of Academic Schools Perspektywy 2022 includes Polish academic universities (public and non-public), which have at least one right to confer a doctoral degree and have a minimum of 200 full-time students. The Ranking will include universities which had a minimum of two graduates.
Two new indicators have been introduced to the ranking of universities: the university's research contribution to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the university's presence in the 'European University'. The methodology of the University Rankings has not changed.
The indicator 'SDGs - the university's contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals' was added under the criterion 'Innovation'. The indicator reflects the innovative approach of universities consciously contributing to the implementation of the 17 goals focused on quality of life and care for the environment. The assessment was made through the presence of the issues covered by these objectives in the research and publications of the HEIs. The indicator was taken into account with the weight of 2%, which were 'found' by adjusting the weight of other indicators taken into account in this criterion.
An indicator was added to the Internationalisation criterion: 'Participation in a European university'. It rewards (equally) universities that were selected in the European Commission competition. The indicator was included with a weight of 1 per cent, which was 'found' by reducing the weight of the indicator 'study programmes in foreign languages'. The participation of a university in a European university will provide today's high school graduates and the future students of these universities with better opportunities to acquire international experience during their studies, which for many people is an important argument for choosing a particular university.
It should be emphasised that none of the criteria for the ranking of academic universities has been changed and the total percentage weight of the introduced changes will not exceed 5%, which, according to the rules adopted by the Committee, ensures the possibility of comparing the ranking results on a year-to-year basis.
The 2022 ranking does not use the results of the latest evaluation of the scientific achievements of universities, as they remain unknown until the publication of the ranking.
The results of the Perspektywy 2022 Ranking are available at the link:
https://2022.ranking.perspektywy.pl/2022/ranking/ranking-uczelni-akademickich