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ARRA Short story of Slovak ranking

Learn about ARRA, an independent NGO that assesses Slovak universities, its methodology, achievements, and impact on the education sector. Discover the history, founders, methodology principles, and how it addresses information asymmetry in education.

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ARRA Short story of Slovak ranking

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  1. ARRAShort story of Slovak ranking Juraj Barta Co-founder and chairman of executive board

  2. What is ARRA • What is ARRA • History • Methodology • Achievements • Information assymetry • Open questions

  3. What is ARRA • Independent NGO • Main purpose: collect information, process it and publish annual ranking of Slovak universities • Founded in 2004 • First ranking: 2005 • Other projects: • Top Slovak scientists • Students, alumni, teachers survey • Employers demand analysis

  4. Why did we do it? • Quality of higher education was no topic of disputes • Lack of data-based opinions on universities • Growth of number of schools, students, professors… • We believed there was a need and demand for an independent view • We had necessary resources: • Skills & Expertise • Reputation & Contacts • Willingness

  5. Public debate (illustrations) • Debate on quality lacks quality (Trend) • Knowing the truth about their level shall help the shools(head of Acreditation committee) • Quality assessment should be driven by the government(head of Rectors’ conference) • General feeling: Someone should do it, but not us, not them, not now…

  6. Who founded ARRA? • Ferdinand Devinsky, former rector of Commenius university, MP • Jan Pisut, former minister of education • Renata Kralikova • Juraj Barta • Michal Fedak • Ivan Ostrovsky

  7. Other people • Board of experts • Ivan Stich • Ivan Wilhelm • Pavel Brunovsky • Julius Horvath • Jaromir Pastorek • Dusan Kovac (…) • Board of Trustees • Jozef Kollar • Pavol Lancaric • Imrich Beres • Rado Bato • Jan Toth • Jaroslav Pilat • Martin Fronc • Ivan Miklos

  8. International cooperation • Founding member of International Ranking Experts Group • Together with other renowned agencies from all over the world • Prof. Devinsky is a member of the organisations executive body

  9. Principles & Methodology • World Bank experts to help us on methodology • Don Thornhill • Lewis Purser • Principles: indepenece, transparency, expertise, data-based statements, no representation of schools nor other bodies Res ipsa loquitur

  10. Methodology (1)

  11. Methodology (2)

  12. Methodology(3 – changes) 2005-2010 major changes & developments: - reputation is not considered - student’s comfort is hard/ineffective to measure and is omitted - No. of publications w/ 5+ citations is redundant (few satisfy this criteria and these institutions have several good results in other research indices) - finances and SV9-10 are available only for universities as a whole, not for particular faculties + articles and books outside WoK are considered for HUM & SPOL

  13. Schools grouping (compare the comparable) 2005 • Natural sciences • Medicine&Pharmacy • Technology • Agriculture • Social sciences • Arts and Humanities 2010 • Natural sciences • Medicine&Pharmacy • Technology • Agriculture • Philosophy • Theology • Law • Teaching • Economics & Management • Arts • Other social sciences

  14. Information assymetry 1 (theory) • Akerlof’s ‘lemons’ • under prolonged IA quality standards drop significantly • situation in HE: schools have more info about quality than students • cheaper to teach more students (economies of scale) • easier to have non-individual approach & teach less info

  15. Information assymetry 2 (SK situation) • only 28% of students on Slovak HEIs chose the school primarily based on quality • in less than 10 years number of Slovak students in CZE quadrupled (5k->22k) • there was no information about the quality/ranking of Slovak HEIs • most of Slovak HEIs are perceived alike • students, who require some quality assurance, tend to go abroad

  16. Information assymetry 3 (SK solution) • general ways how to fight IA: warranty, brand, state intervention, independent QA • warranty is useless in education • brand consciousness is underdeveloped • state processes are slow (accreditation took 6 years) and also prone to lobbying (regional politicians, etc.) • best solution in SK = independent quality assessment agency

  17. Information assymetry 4(implications) • debate about the quality of research & edu commenced • best faculties attract more and better students (STU Chem: from 350->600) • worst schools in stagnation or even decline (TUAD: from 8100->5700)

  18. Reactions and Achievements • Provoking discussion • Both refusals(method, people…) and supports • Schools refering to the ranking • Used as a source of data for EUA • Even schools who neglected it later reffered to it internally • Debates no longer based on feelings & debating skills • Consultancy for Ministry of Education, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Universities, Media… • From ranking agency to a think tank?

  19. But... • Are rankings objective? • Do not we make the mess worse? • What has research to do with education? • Shall the schools be all the same?

  20. Thank you!

  21. Regional peers • US News and World Report • Shanghai ranking

  22. Differences

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