Бердянський державний педагогічний університет офіційно заявляє про своє приєднання до міжнародної ініціативи More Than Our Rank, започаткованої INORMS Research Evaluation Group. Ми поділяємо її бачення формування відповідального, багатовимірного підходу до оцінювання університетів, що виходить за межі вузьких індикаторів глобальних рейтингів.
Для нашого університету ця ініціатива має особливе значення. БДПУ — це університет без стін, що продовжує працювати в умовах війни, вимушеної релокації та постійних ризиків для інфраструктури. Ми зберегли повноцінний освітній процес, наукові дослідження, відкриту наукову інфраструктуру та культуру відповідального управління даними, створивши модель, яка поєднує цифрову мобільність, гнучкі формати взаємодії та підтримку академічної спільноти на відстані. Жоден глобальний рейтинг не здатен виміряти масштаби цього досвіду, його людську, соціальну та інституційну цінність.
Приєднання до More Than Our Rank є продовженням нашого стратегічного курсу на відповідальне оцінювання досліджень, закріпленого у підтримці DORA та принципів CoARA. Ми розділяємо ідею, що університети мають право і можливість самостійно визначати, що саме становить їхній успіх відповідно до місії, контексту та внеску у розвиток суспільства. Для БДПУ таким внеском є не лише публікаційні чи цитатні показники, а й здатність забезпечувати освітню та наукову тяглість у прифронтовому регіоні, формувати культуру відкритої науки, розвивати інклюзивність та підтримку ментального здоров’я, відновлювати академічні мережі після окупації та створювати простір безперервного наукового життя для студентів і дослідників.
БДПУ є університетом, який переосмислив власну роль в умовах кризи й запропонував модель, що поєднує інституційну стійкість, відкритість і соціальну відповідальність. Ми демонструємо, що університет може бути ефективним, інноваційним і впливовим незалежно від географічних меж, фізичної інфраструктури та формальних рейтингів.
Ми приєднуємося до More Than Our Rank, щоб заявити: наш університет — це значно більше, ніж місце у академічних рейтингах, адже наша цінність визначається не лише показниками видимості чи кількості публікацій, а здатністю служити суспільству, підтримувати науку в умовах війни, відкривати знання, відновлювати громади та формувати майбутнє освіти в Україні.
Encouraging your university to signup to More Than Our Rank
The International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS) Research Evaluation Group (REG) was established in 2018 to promote fairer and more responsible assessment of academic research and institutions. To support this ambition, the INORMS More Than Our Rank initiative was launched in October 2022.
More Than Our Rank is an opportunity to redefine what institutional success looks like,
by enabling universities to celebrate their many and varied activities, achievements and
ambitions that are not captured by global university rankings.
Participation in More Than Our Rank is for institutions rather than individuals, and
therefore requires agreement from institutional leaders. As brokering conversations
about public commitments can be difficult, the REG have drafted the following guidance
to help you to leverage support for More Than Our Rank within your organisation.
Why should your institution participate?
- You get to describe your ambitions, activities, and achievements in full
Signatories to More Than Our Rank get to define their successes on their own terms in
line with their own institutional missions and ambitions. This opportunity allows
institutions to step away from the limited definitions of quality and excellence of
national and international rankings and celebrate what is meaningful to you and your
communities. - It can co-exist with the university rankings
Some institutions are well-served by the global rankings and want to celebrate their
ranking successes. There is no requirement that signatories to More Than Our Rank
stop using the rankings, but only that they also highlight what they have more to offer
that is not captured by the rankings – something with which even the rankings would
agree! (See our supporting organisations). - You get to live up to your principles on:
- Responsible research assessment: Many higher education institutions (HEIs)
have signed DORA or adopted other principles of responsible research
assessment. These encourage a move away from narrowly-focussed and
poorly-constructed indicators of success towards more value-led and
qualitative approaches. More Than Our Rank is formally supported by DORA,
CWTS Leiden, the Latin American Forum on Scientific Evaluation (CLACSO
FOLEC) and others, as a way of delivering on institutional principles of
responsible research assessment. - Equity, diversity & inclusion (EDI): Rankings use a model of institutional
success that favours large, old, wealthy, English-speaking, research-intensive
institutions in the global north. Whilst these institutions are great, they are not
INORMS Research Evaluation Group https://inorms.net/more-than-our-rank/
the only ‘flavour’ of higher education. Such a model tends to exclude whole
regions (e.g., Latin America, Africa) from ranking highly and as such cannot be
seen to be inclusive. More Than Our Rank seeks to provide a much broader
and inclusive definition of institutional success and by participating institutions
are celebrating diversity and promoting inclusivity. - Collaboration: Many HEIs prize collaboration with other institutions as a key
way of delivering on their research ambitions. However, rankings are
inherently competitive. They are a zero-sum game. When an institution
celebrates breaking into the top 100, they are actually celebrating another
institution dropping out. More Than Our Rank is inherently collaborative
rather than competitive. All institutions have an equal opportunity to highlight
their strengths and to join collaboratively with others doing the same.
- You will get recognition for your commitment
The INORMS Research Evaluation Group regularly promotes new signatories on social
media and through other channels. This helps both to celebrate that institution’s
achievements as listed in their statement but also provides recognition to institutions
for living out their commitment to responsible research assessment, equity, diversity,
and inclusion. - You will be proactive in meeting expectations of funding agencies
Many research funding organisations including the Global Research Council, the
European Commission, and UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) are developing
approaches to evaluating research more responsibly, and they are expecting the
organisations they fund to do the same. A good number of research funders have
signed up to the Coalition on Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) Agreement on
Reforming Research Assessment which has as one of its four core commitments the
need to avoid using rankings in the assessment of researchers. The independent
review of priorities in UK research assessment listed as one of its ten
recommendations the need for institutions to engage more responsibly with
university rankings, including considering signing up to More Than Our Rank. - You’ll be in good company
More institutions are signing up to More Than Our Rank every week from all over the
world. And a wide range of organisations have endorsed the initiative, such as the
European University Association, Latin American Forum on Scientific Evaluation,
Science Europe, and the European Consortium of Innovative Universities. - It’s free!
There is no cost to signing up to More Than Our Rank. - It’s simple
a) Sign up via the INORMS More Than Our Rank web page;
b) Write a statement describing how you are more than your rank;
c) Add this statement and the MTOR logo to your web page. - That’s it!
INORMS Research Evaluation Group https://inorms.net/more-than-our-rank/ - Addressing institution concerns
Does this mean we’d have to stop promoting our ranking position?
No. Institutions are free to promote their ranking successes. More Than Our
Rank just highlights how much more institutions have to offer, whether they do
well in the rankings or not. - Isn’t this just for those who have a “poor” or no ranking?
No. More Than Our Rank is for all institutions and highly ranked, mid-ranked
and yet-to-rank organisations are signing up. - Will there be pushback from ranking organisations?
Most ranking agencies are open about the limited dimensions of university
activity that they represent and how their rankings only provide one view of an
institution. Indeed, some provide links out to institutional websites to provide
context for their ranking scores. Two ranking agencies, CWTS Leiden and
UMultirank, are official supporters of More Than Our Rank as they see no
conflict of ambition. - What if we want to change our statement?
That’s absolutely fine. Universities are dynamic organisations and so their
More Than Our Rank statements can be updated with new ambitions,
activities, and achievements at any time.
INORMS Research Evaluation Group
February 2023
