Methods and technologies for evaluating the quality of higher education in the context of international standards: A comparison of the Ukrainian and Polish experience of creating ratings

Abstract

The need to study the methods and technologies used to assess the level of educational services is primarily due to constant transformations in educational processes, improvement of the system of criteria used to rank higher education institutions. The purpose of this study was to analyse the tools used to assess the performance of higher education institutions in the context of international standardization of educational processes. The main methods used in the study were statistical analysis, comparative and contrastive and analytical and synthetic methods. The comparative and contrastive analysis revealed that research activities were among the main indicators that influenced the creation of the rankings: Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings (60%), TOP-200 Ukraine (42%), Perspektywy (42%), and prestige and reputation: QS World University Rankings (40%), Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings (30%), TOP-200 Ukraine (12%). The methods used to create the rankings included statistical, pedagogical analysis, analytical and synthetic methods, and surveys. To create the Ukrainian ranking, 6 international (Webometrics, Scopus, Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings, UniRank, QS World University Rankings) and 4 national (participation in research project competitions, number of patents received, awards for young scientists, the ratio between the number of applications and the competition score) indicators were used. The Polish ranking was based on 29 indicators divided into groups: prestige, scientific effectiveness, scientific strength, scientific and educational potential, internationalization, graduates on the labour market, innovation, study conditions, and economic cooperation. In Poland, there was a balance between international and national criteria, while in Ukraine, about 70% of international criteria and 30% of national criteria were used. This work can be used in the future to improve national and international systems for assessing the quality of higher education, and to develop a unified mechanism for creating ratings