Rankings are photographs taken at a particular time and from an angle chosen by the "photographer" - the ranking organisation that decides on the choice of criteria and their importance. We don't always like how we look in it, but that's no reason to take offence at the photographer. There is a better way.

You need to prepare well for posing for that photo. And this has nothing to do with short-sighted actions "for the sake of a ranking". Everything we do to present ourselves best in the rankings will pay off also in other areas: recognition of the university, which translates into easier contacts with other universities and greater popularity among good candidates. This is a self-reinforcing mechanism: better students mean better quality of teaching and a greater challenge for the academic staff, which has to meet the expectations of ambitious young people. More valuable contacts - national and international - give the chance to raise the level of research and to participate in valuable international projects. This, in turn, translates into higher and higher places in rankings, both overall and in the increasingly popular 'by subject' rankings.

Abandon all hope (that the rankings will disappear)

- Despite their many shortcomings, biases and flaws, rankings enjoy a high level of acceptance among stakeholders and the general public because of their simplicity and audience-oriented type of information. That is why university rankings are not going to disappear; on the contrary, it is expected that the number of rankings will increase, although they will be more specialised, wrote prof. Andrejs Rauhvargers in a study "Global university rankings and their impact" commissioned by the European University Association.

Therefore, we may not like rankings, we may doubt their methodology (if we find allies in this - there is a chance that changes may be introduced, although not immediately, of course), we may think that the position of our university is underestimated, but there is no point in taking offence at the idea of ranking universities or insisting that "we will not participate in this circus". Well, nobody will ask us if we want to. The ranking organisations use mainly external data and do not have to ask the university for its consent to be included in their ranking. Besides, our absence could be received even worse than our low position...

Who reads the rankings? And what for?

Contrary to popular belief, it is not only our competitors and journalists poorly versed in the specifics of academic work who are looking for sensational information to boost the page's traffic. The main target audience is candidates for studies - domestic and foreign. For those from abroad, the national ranking is a useful tool enabling them to choose a university if they are considering studying in Poland, as searching for Polish universities in global lists may be difficult. Most people instinctively check the top 100, and it is unlikely that we are there. The national ranking clearly shows which universities are among the top ones, it also allows them to choose those which best conduct specific courses.

Some people read the ranking with understanding, others look only at the leading places - there is nothing we can do about that. However, we should certainly do everything possible to ensure that something good comes out of the ranking for us.

"Something good" is not necessarily just a place at the top. It also means maintaining a decent position from the previous year or at least a slight upward movement. If only not to fall consistently over the years, as in the Perspektywy Ranking of Higher Education Institutions, in which in 2013 UG was ranked 14th, and in the last edition - 28th. To make matters worse, other public universities in Gdańsk systematically improved their position to finally find themselves in the top 10. In the 2020 edition, GUMed was in 6th place ex aequo with Wrocław University of Technology, and the Gdańsk University of Technology was in 8th place ex aequo with the Technical University of Łódź. For comparison: in 2010, GUMed was 17th, PG was 27th, and UG was 20th. Going even deeper: in 2006, UG was 19th, GUMed was 26th, and PG was 30th. The drop in the ranking by type of university also looks bad. In the 2013 Perspektywy university ranking, UG was behind five universities, while in 2020 it was already seven.

Fortunately, the role of rankings "by subject" is growing, where it is easier to quickly improve one's position, as one can focus on a few well-run majors. If we look back to the latest edition of the Perspektywy University Ranking of majors, it turns out that UG has a chance for success (which is a place "on the podium" in the majors ranking) in several disciplines. Such as archaeology (in 2020 - 4th position), cultural studies (4th), psychology (5th), biology (4th), environmental protection (5th), biotechnology (4th),). On the podium, there are spatial management and tourism and recreation faculties run by the University of Gdańsk (3rd place). The abutments have been caught, there is a field to fight for better results, but also a reason to boast.

Let us boast!

... because others will not necessarily do it for us. Let's record - on the forum of the university, but also in relevant databases - everything that may improve its position: publications in prestigious journals, citations, patents, international cooperation, accreditations. Each of these seemingly insignificant "bricks" builds the university's position.

Let us also praise others, because it simply pays off: let us not ignore, for example, emails from QS with the polite request: "Nominate top universities in your speciality" or "Have your say on higher education institutions". Let's work for the reputation indicators of the universities we think are good because then we can count on reciprocity. "As the analysts of the rankings say, the high places of the universities in Great Britain or China are not only the result of the level of research and number of citations but above all, high reputation indicators," we read in the appeal of the Educational Foundation Perspektywy for taking part in the research on the prestige of the universities.

Contrary to the hopes of ranking opponents, the pandemic has not swept them away. This is probably because analysts can easily work online and the demand for rankings continues to grow. Another season of "posing for photographs" is therefore ahead of us. Let's do our best to look our best in the next pictures.