Veljko Jeremic

A fresh approach to evaluating the academic ranking of world universities

The aim of this article is to present new ideas in evaluating Shanghai University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). One issue frequently put forth in various publications is that the Shanghai rankings are sensitive to the relative weight they attribute to each variable. As a possible remedy to this issue, the statistical I-distance method is proposed to be used. Based on a sample containing the top 100 ranked universities, the results show a significant correlation with the official ARWU list. However, some inconsistencies concerning European universities have been noticed and elaborated upon.

How does the normalization of data affect the ARWU ranking

The aim of this paper is to present new ideas in evaluating Shanghai University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). In particular, this paper shall try to determine whether the normalization of data affects University ranks. In accordance with this, both the normalized and original (raw) data for each of the six variables has been obtained. Based on a sample containing the 54 US universities which are placed in the ARWU top 100, the statistical I-distance method was performed. The results showed great inconsistencies between university ranks obtained for the original and normalized data. These findings were then analyzed and the universities that had the greatest fluctuation in their ranks were noted.

A new perspective on the ICT Development Index

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) represents an important structural part of modern society; this is why countries strive for constant progress in ICT and why it draws such significant attention. Bearing this in mind, the main goal of this paper is to present an I-distance methodology that holds a new perspective on the measurement of information development, to compare it to the ICT development index (IDI), and to point out improvements that such methodology provides. IDI combines 11 indicators related to three ICT categories: Access, Use and Skills (by weighting the first two by 40 percent and the third by 20 percent). The approach presented in this study uses the same indicators, synthesizing them into one value. Subsequently, which variables are the most relevant for measuring ICT development level of countries are able to be determined. Consequently, the I-distance method provides useful insight into developing countries and ways that enhance their ranking. The results show that the correlation between the I-distance values and IDI values is very strong, r = 0.961, p < 0.01, which makes I-distance an acceptable measurement method for evaluating countries’ ICT development levels.

Excelencia con liderazgo: el indicador rey del SCImago Institutions Rankings Iber report

Although there are many models for ranking higher education institutions, the SCImago Institutions Rankings methodology stands out for its ability to present quantitative and qualitative indicators of scientific output. Besides Total number of published papers, several indicators are concerned with quality dimensions of published papers, such as International collaboration, Scientific leadership or High quality publications. However, official rankings are provided solely on the basis of one indicator: Output (total number of published papers). This paper presents a statistical I-distance method that integrates all the indicators into one value, which therefore represent a rank and show which of the input indicators is the most important for the process of ranking. Our results clearly showed that Excellence with Leadership occupies the most significant spot. Nota: Este artículo puede leerse traducido al español en: http://www.elprofesionaldelainformacion.com/contenidos/2013/sept/13_esp.pdf Excellence with leadership: the crown indicator of SCImago Institutions Rankings Iber report El profesional de la información, 2013, septiembre-octubre, v. 22, n. 5. ISSN: 1386-6710 475

Sustainable development and public health: rating European countries

BackgroundSustainable development and public health quite strongly correlate, being connected and conditioned by one another. This paper therein attempts to offer a representation of Europe’s current situation of sustainable development in the area of public health.MethodsA dataset on sustainable development in the area of public health consisting of 31 European countries (formally proposed by the European Union Commission and EUROSTAT) has been used in this paper in order to evaluate said issue for the countries listed thereof. A statistical method which synthesizes several indicators into one quantitative indicator has also been utilized. Furthermore, the applied method offers the possibility to obtain an optimal set of variables for future studies of the problem, as well as for the possible development of indicators.ResultsAccording to the results obtained, Norway and Iceland are the two foremost European countries regarding sustainable development in the area of public health, whereas Romania, Lithuania, and Latvia, some of the European Union’s newest Member States, rank lowest. The results also demonstrate that the most significant variables (more than 80%) in rating countries are found to be “healthy life years at birth, females” (r2 = 0.880), “healthy life years at birth, males” (r2 = 0.864), “death rate due to chronic diseases, males” (r2 = 0.850), and “healthy life years, 65, females” (r2 = 0.844).ConclusionsBased on the results of this paper, public health represents a precondition for sustainable development, which should be continuously invested in and improved.After the assessment of the dataset, proposed by EUROSTAT in order to evaluate progress towards the agreed goals of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS), this paper offers an improved set of variables, which it is hoped, may initiate further studies concerning this problem.

A new approach to the QS university ranking using the composite I-distance indicator: Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses

Some major concerns of universities are to provide quality in higher education and enhance global competitiveness, thus ensuring a high global rank and an excellent performance evaluation. This article examines the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Ranking methodology, pointing to a drawback of using subjective, possibly biased, weightings to build a composite indicator (QS scores). We propose an alternative approach to creating QS scores, which is referred to as the composite I‐distance indicator (CIDI) methodology. The main contribution is the proposal of a composite indicator weights correction based on the CIDI methodology. It leads to the improved stability and reduced uncertainty of the QS ranking system. The CIDI methodology is also applicable to other university rankings by proposing a specific statistical approach to creating a composite indicator.

Facebook Versus Moodle in Practice

Very few research papers and case studies have shown successful integration of both Facebook and Moodle in the educational experience of students. This study sought to evaluate the educational benefits of the increasingly popular Facebook—which plays an important role in students’ social life as well as their academic life—and to compare it with the widely used course management system Moodle. In this study, the authors surveyed students of the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Organizational Science in Serbia on their attitude toward Facebook and Moodle as productive online tools for teaching and learning. An analysis of the results was carried out using the SPSS software package. The results of this research answer the question of whether or not using Facebook as an educational tool is more effective than using Moodle and how it affects students’ everyday learning activities.

Evaluating the health of nations: a Libyan perspective

Researchers leave no doubt regarding the importance of a health system, since health is considered to be a fundamental contributor to the welfare of every country. As the evaluation and ranking of countries are based on their health status, it is therefore a crucial issue. Despite numerous attempts, health systems are a difficult issue to measure. The vast majority of researchers use mortality rates as an indicator of the country’s health status. However, this approach assumes that health is a one-dimensional concept, which is not precisely true. (Published: 25 February 2011) Citation: Libyan J Med 2011, 6 : 6021 - DOI: 10.3402/ljm.v6i0.6021

Does playing blindfold chess reduce the quality of game: comments on chabris and hearst (2003).

Blindfold chess is a special type of chess game where both the board and pieces are not visible to its players. This paper aims to determine whether the quality of the game played blindfolded is lower than when played under normal conditions. The best chess program was used to analyze games played by the worlds top Grandmasters under both conditions. We have analyzed the Monaco 1993-1998 data set introduced by Chabris and Hearst (2003). The results showed that although a larger number of mistakes occurred while playing blindfolded, no significant statistical difference between the rapid and blindfold games has been found. Nevertheless, by applying the same methodology to the Monaco 2002-2007 data set a substantial difference between the blindfold and the rapid chess game was noticed. In this paper, we have addressed the possible improvement of the chess game quality and the advances in chess programs that may be responsible for detecting more blunders.

Beyond the equal-weight framework of the Networked Readiness Index: a multilevel I-distance methodology

Global competitiveness in the 21st century is essentially based on improving business by employing information and communication technologies (ICT). Therefore, it is necessary to establish comparable and reliable ICT statistics for measuring the development of information society. One of the possible solutions is the Networked Readiness Index (NRI). The NRI is the degree of ICT implementation in a country’s economy with the aim of increasing its competitive advantage. In particular, the NRI provides a thorough overview of the top-ranked countries with a highly developed ICT infrastructure. The statistical foundation of the NRI composite index is based on a policy that assigns the same weight to all indicators. Starting from here, our aim was to contribute to the official methodology by providing an alternative weighting scheme. Consequently, our paper presents an alternative NRI framework based on the application of multilevel I-distance methodology. Our approach helps to overcome the issue of employing biased weighting factors in the process of creation composite indexes. We also provide an overview of potential corrections of the official NRI weighting procedure, aimed at sparking debate among researchers and policymakers.