ASU gets in the top 60 most influential universities in the world by the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings

9 April 2019 Department of Information and Media Communications

The Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings is the world’s first global attempt to document evidence of universities’ impact on society, rather than just research and teaching performance. Metrics include universities’ policies on academic freedom, their use of secure employment contracts and their share of senior female academic staff and are based on 11 of the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The results of the rankings were first announced on April 3, 2019 at the Sustainable Development Summit, held at the Korean Institute of Advanced Sciences and Technologies (KAIST).

Altai State University took the 58th position in the ranking among the universities of the world and the highest position among Russian universities.

The university impact ranking measures the success of world universities in achieving the UN goals in the field of sustainable development, which were adopted in 2016.

The Times Higher Education evaluates 11 SDG categoties:

  • SDG 3 – Good health and well-being
  • SDG 4 – Quality education
  • SDG 5 – Gender equality
  • SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth
  • SDG 9 – Industry, innovation and infrastructure
  • SDG 10 – Reduced inequalities
  • SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities
  • SDG 12 – Responsible consumption and production
  • SDG 13 – Climate action
  • SDG 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions
  • SDG 17 – Partnerships for the goals

Any university that provides data on SDG 17 and at least three other goals is included in the overall rankings. In addition, the Times Higher Education publishes rankings for each individual sustainable development goal.

A university’s final score in the overall table is calculated by combining its score in SDG 17 with its top three scores out of the remaining 10 SDGs. SDG 17 accounts for 22 per cent of the overall score, while the other SDGs each carry a weighting of 26 per cent. This means that different universities are scored based on a different set of SDGs, depending on their focus.

ASU managed to take the highest positions in the following SDGs:

  • SDG 4 – Quality education (the 28th position)
  • SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities (the 26th position)
  • SDG 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions (the 49th position)

SDG 4 Quality education takes into account the availability of educational resources of the university for the public, holding open lectures, summer schools, the level of development of the continuing professional education system.

Thus, more than 5 thousand people undergo advanced training and retraining courses at ASU and more than 20 summer schools are held anually. 1406 video lectures are posted on the website of the university, Open Educational Portal has been created on the Moodle platform, which is aimed at external users: applicants, foreign students, students of retraining and advanced training courses, research and production associations. As of January 1, 2019, 212 open courses have been created on the portal and 7,490 users are working there. On the Open Portal, open educational resources are being developed: Internet Lyceum, Open School, Preparing for the Unified State Exam, Russian Literary Sites. The format of online training for this program was also implemented with the help of LMS Moodle on the site of the Open Educational Portal with constant support from the lecturers in conjunction with ongoing educational activities and promotions both at the university and abroad (Russian language days, Russian education weeks, international forums and congresses, youth exchanges). Another sector of educational resources on the portal is represented by sections of the Center for Retraining and Advanced Training of Lecturers at ASU. These e-courses are implemented in remote format for an international audience of students.

ASU has formed unified information and educational environment, which combines holding public lectures on popular topics (more than 100 different topics) and posting video materials on the university’s video portal. The university's continuous education platform allowed more than 20 thousand residents of Altai Krai and other regions to be involved in scientific and educational projects. This work received high external rating (ASU was ranked first in the ranking of the flagship universities of Russia by the INTERFAX news agency in this area).

SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities takes into account the availability of library resources, cultural values and spaces of the university, museums, exhibitions, sites, the number of annual performances of the university choir, orchestra, theater groups, and preservation of cultural heritage by the population.

Thus, in 2018, the Center for Culture and Enlightenment and the Center for Continuing Art Education implemented brand and socio-cultural projects, held more than 30 concert programs and entertainment events, which allowed to attract over 10 thousand spectators. More than 2 thousand schoolchildren visited the musical lessons. In addition, the university began using the elements of its infrastructure as a central platform for holding citywide creative events (more than 10 events were held in the University Courtyard in 2018). A twofold increase in the number of residents in the region who have gone through the advanced university development programs in the field of creative industries has been ensured (298 people). Eight new programs were implemented (“Concertmastership”, “Theory and History of Art”, “Relevant Problems of Teaching Fine Arts to Children in the Continuing Vocational Education System”, “Vocational Training: Design”, etc.).

It should be noted that ranking indicators require that universities provide evidence on each of them. Priority is given to evidence that is public. Evidence is evaluated based on a set of criteria, and decisions are cross-checked in case of uncertainty.

The metrics were developed in partnership with Elsevier and Vertigo Ventures.
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