Jacques de Champchesnel and Eimi Satoh from Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a British company specialising in education, visited Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI” and held a series of workshops at the university from 13 to 14 May 2019. QS specializes in expert analysis. QS also publishes annual QS World University Rankings, the most highly-regarded world rankings.
Heads and representatives of various ETU departments, namely structural units dealing with research and academic activities, international cooperation and public relations took part in the event. The main topic of discussion was ETU performance at international rankings and the ways to improve it, as well as avenues to achieve greater visibility in the world research and academic space.
Jacques de Champchesnel and Eimi Satoh explained how QS rankings work, the methodology and data collection tools behind them. The following topics were covered at the workshop: “Global, regional, subject and specific QS rankings – methodology and indicators”, “Academic and employer reputation – survey tools, procedures and terms of data collection”, “Publication activity and citation rate – indices and thresholds, Scopus database”, “ETU performance at QS rankings».
QS representatives also conducted a series of interviews with representatives of structural units and leadership of the university. The participants shared their vision of the university perspectives and objectives that have to be achieved for developing a global strategy, promoting scientific research and international cooperation efforts, especially concerning marketing and communications.
The QS representatives answered a number of questions about improving the performance of ETU in international rankings and gave their recommendations on ways to enhance the reputation of Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI” at the international arena.
“Our cooperation with the university centers around working out a so-called global strategy, the way to interact with the world. You are one of the most prominent globally-oriented Russian universities. International development is the process that does not occur exclusively in Russia. A university has to interact with the world, so we are trying to find the most effective way to achieve that” – Jacques de Champchesnel, QS Senior Consultant
Viktor Tupik, Vice Rector for Strategic Development, emphasized the importance of such an event for the university: “QS workshops is an important part of our effort to improve our performance in rankings, which will help us to succeed in the future”.
“We’ve been cooperating with ranking agencies since the time ETU became the part of the 5-100 Project. Our inclusion in rankings is not the sole goal of the project but is one of the indicators. So, we should take guidance in such rankings. The meeting is the first step of our future cooperation with QS. We’ve managed to immerse the experts in the ETU realities. The experts expressed a high opinion of the university potential, the dedication of workshop participants, and their interest in finding the way to implement standards worthy of the university potential” – Viktor Tupik, Vice Rector for Strategic Development
The next step of cooperation with QS experts is a remote one. ETU staff will process the information provided by the experts. Such data includes the performance of the university in the rankings by subjects in which all the universities are judged. The next session will be taking place in fall before the Project 5-100 international council meeting, where ETU will present a development strategy.