President and Chair of the Board (Founder), QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd

Meeting with President&Founder of QS - Nunzio Quacquarelli

🎥 Nov 19, 2020 📺 Research Support Center ⏱ 120m 👁 59 views

Transcript (26 segments)

Moderator1:36

Dear Mr. Quacquarelli, on behalf of the Ministry of Education of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, I wanted to thank you for your contribution to this meeting. Uzbekistan is prioritizing entering world university rankings and doing its best to make our universities competitive. Since 2017, we have made tremendous changes in higher education policy, signing agreements with global corporations and implementing the Science 2020 program. We signed an agreement with QS University Rankings to support our understanding of how to enter rankings, and opened national access to Scopus and Web of Science databases. We have a strategic partnership with QS World University Rankings, signed last year and renewed on September 18. For the first time in history, the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation became the first Uzbek university to enter the QS regional ranking and received an award in Lithuania. We also built international scientific journals with double-blind peer review, meeting Scopus and Web of Science criteria. I want to thank all colleagues — ministers and deputy ministers from Central Asia — and Mr. Nunzio Quacquarelli for joining. Now I'd like to give the floor to the honorable Head of the Higher Education Council and President of the Rectors Council of Uzbekistan.

Higher Education Council Chair8:38

First of all, may I thank Mr. Quacquarelli on behalf of the rectors from Uzbekistan for arranging his time and letting us know how QS works. What makes this meeting impressive is that colleagues from different countries — rectors from Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and ministers — have joined, creating a bridge of collaboration. A few years ago, the President of our country decided we need big changes to succeed within the framework of world-class universities. We implemented the concept of higher education until 2030, placing participation in world university rankings among the most important roles. Previously, rankings were not a main priority, but now there is very strong commitment to international integration. We transformed university criteria and focused on developing international students and teachers. Participation in rankings changed the perception, direction, and vector of universities, showing them how to improve. Entering world rankings requires not just university management but every staff member and teacher to understand the need for change. The first and currently only university from Uzbekistan participating in QS rankings at the regional level is the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Melioration, which has proved its competency and is looking to raise its figures.

Moderator14:50

Pardon me, Nunzio — this university's name was a bit incorrectly pronounced. I will send you the proper name.

Higher Education Council Chair15:13

We truly hope that the number of universities present in world university rankings will change extremely in the near future, and I promise we will contribute to this change. To conclude, I want to thank all colleagues who joined, and emphasize that such collaborative meetings are a great idea. I thank Inago and the Research Support Center for organizing this. I wanted to mention — we are meeting Nunzio for the first time, and I don't know when the second time will be. Mr. Zakirov says he hopes the second time will happen. The Minister and I wanted to invite you, Nunzio, to Uzbekistan anytime upon your convenience — not only a second time, maybe several times.

Nunzio Quacquarelli17:06

Not only a second time — maybe several times. Yes, thank you. I look forward to visiting. I've visited Kazakhstan and the ENU campus several times, so I look forward to visiting Tashkent. Thank you so much.

Moderator17:31

Thank you so much, dear Nunzio. Thank you, dear colleagues from Uzbekistan, for the first plenary note. I'd like to give the floor to my Kazakhstani colleagues — my homeland colleagues. Today we have the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan joining us.

Deputy Minister of Education of Kazakhstan18:10

Thank you for the kind invitation. I'm pleased to take part in this meeting and would like to share our experience. The State Program on Education and Science was adopted to 2025, but we think this is not enough, so the Ministry suggested adopting a strategy for the development of the higher education system in Kazakhstan. The main part of this strategy is a classification of universities. Kazakhstan has 128 universities, and we need to differentiate between universities in different regions — some regional universities cannot compete with the National University or international universities. We suggested an internal ranking to classify universities as international-level, regional-level, national-level, and specialized institutions, based on differentiation, taking into account the experience of Germany, China, and Russia. By expanding academic freedom, we want universities to develop infrastructure, strengthen research capacity, and develop academic staff by inviting leading professors from around the world. Despite the pandemic, we have the same number of foreign students as in 2019, showing continued interest in Kazakh institutions. We also have an internal ranking of scientific journals, and beginning this year adopted new rules regarding qualitative criteria — including double-blind review, transparent submission policies, and article review transparency. We'd like to ask for assistance from Elsevier to help our journals with internal review and self-assessment, and for peer review of our ministry's criteria. Our cooperation includes not only university rankings but sustainable collaboration, journal review, and education development. We support the open science initiative and have joined the UNESCO project on open science. Thank you for your attention.

ENU Rector31:48

Good afternoon, dear colleagues. I'm glad to welcome you and thank the organizers for the invitation. It's great to meet a friend of our university. I'd like to thank you for the contribution you're making to the development and recognition of Kazakh universities. Our university has received the status of a nonprofit joint-stock company, opening new opportunities. The Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan is significantly supporting us, and we are on the way to obtaining research university status. The pandemic became a new challenge, but thanks to the hard work of our team, we managed to overcome it. We received more than 3,000 holders of state educational grants — a record for the country. We published over 700 online lectures for the new academic year. Our international status is reflected in growing double degrees with leading universities — in 2019, we opened 10 new double degree programs. The university signed 371 agreements with foreign universities and research centers. We paid special attention to infrastructure, including student housing and sports facilities, with plans for a research laboratory building and residential building for young scientists. Next year we celebrate our 25th anniversary, and we would be honored to see you, dear Nunzio, as our guest.

Moderator38:46

Dear colleagues, may I ask you to greet ourselves.

Nunzio Quacquarelli39:17

Thank you. It's my honor to be here this morning. Thank you for the invitation to be part of this conference. I'm doing a keynote talk later as part of the inauguration of the Future Conference, and many of my comments here are relevant because I think a lot of the messages for universities in Central Asia are relevant for universities in emerging markets around the world. I really respect the ambition your presidents are showing. The president of Uzbekistan signed a decree with the Ministry of Education to develop an action plan for at least 10 higher education institutions to be included in the top 1,000 of global rankings. That ambition has to be admired, and QS is actively working to help guide the improvement and performance of your universities. I'd like to say congratulations — your universities are making significant progress, and you'll see this in the new QS Emerging Europe and Central Asian rankings published on December 16. I can't give specific positions yet because they're under embargo, but I can share a few facts: there will be 41 universities from Central Asia and the Caucasus, up from 32; 27 from Kazakhstan, up from 24; 7 from Kyrgyzstan, up from 5; 4 from Uzbekistan, up from 1; 2 from Tajikistan, unchanged; and one new entry from Tajikistan — the first to feature in this ranking. That's a sign of real progress. Let me summarize my key messages. The pandemic has made universities around the world more dynamic, and competition in higher education will be fiercer than ever. Aspiring universities that wish to be considered world class must focus on being the best they can be and building on their strengths. Rankings are more popular than ever — 492 million people in China viewed the QS World University Rankings hashtag on social media in June 2020, nearly half a billion people. QS insights show common priorities in this post-COVID world. First, be focused on proactive research partnerships — they correlate strongly with academic reputation and research impact. I was delighted to hear about the 371 agreements. You need international partnerships to address the most important research themes affecting the world of tomorrow, and they help build brand and reputation. Second, focus on a diversified international student body that develops skills to match employer expectations. Happy employers lead to happy students, and this helps your reputation and international standing. Third, data-driven decisions become more important as you align strategy with key stakeholders — academics and employers at home and internationally, your student body, and government ministers. Fourth, digital innovation in pedagogy must continue so you can deliver knowledge effectively to students of tomorrow. ENU delivering 46 courses online is a sign of important digital transformation. The ministers have a key role in providing direction and incentives for universities to improve their performance and global competitiveness. Universities can't do it themselves — they need support, infrastructure, and guidance from government. It gives me confidence to see that ministers of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are committed to providing that support, and I'm sure the same will be true in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. I commend you for the progress you're making.

Moderator46:09

Thank you, dear Nunzio. Thank you for the greeting. Dear colleagues, we are ending the first part of today's meeting and moving to the panel session. Before we listen to Nunzio's presentation in about 15 to 20 minutes, I'd like to give the floor to the honorable Mr. Kamiljon Karimov, Director of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy and member of the Higher Education Council of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Kamil Karimov48:57

Good afternoon, dear colleagues. I'd like to thank the organizers — Research Support Center, Elsevier, and QS World University Rankings — for organizing this discussion. It's very timely and a good opportunity to exchange views on the current state and future of higher education in our region. I also wish to thank Research Support Center for ongoing expertise and support to Uzbekistan's universities in improving research quality and entering world rankings. Thank you, Aliya, in particular for your constant support. The title for our panel, 'See the Future,' is symbolic because we live in very exciting and challenging times. Crises bring new opportunities, and the pandemic has changed the way we educate students, conduct research, and collaborate. Those changes will remain and impact education for years ahead. My colleagues from Uzbekistan have mentioned the ongoing reforms. Over the last three to four years, the country has changed profoundly, including in higher education. We now have a very clear vision: a long-term strategy — the Concept for Development of Higher Education up to 2030 — which is a very important strategic framework clearly stipulating the direction for the next 10 years, focusing on specific areas for university development. One important element is the competitiveness of Uzbek higher education. There is a very clear goal for at least 10 Uzbek universities to be part of global rankings, of which QS is one. There is also an ambitious goal to make Uzbekistan the number one choice for students — not only local but also regional and international — creating a Central Asian higher education hub. This is ambitious but realistic, because Uzbekistan was historically known as a center for science and education. It requires lots of work, attention, and investment, but it's doable. Another ambitious task is to increase higher education enrollment. Four years ago it was below 10%, but it has now doubled. The goal in another 10 years is to reach 50% — making at least half of high school graduates university students. Four years ago we had 75 universities; now we have close to 140. We focus not just on numbers but on quality, and rankings help us navigate in that direction.

Higher Education Council Chair55:08

It's also important that it's not just the education, teaching, and learning part, but the goal is to make our universities focused on research — to make them really the centers of research excellence. I'm sure what QS does and our colleagues in Enago and research support centers are helping us improve the research quality in our higher education institutions. Those are the major elements of the Concept of 2030. Another important element is international collaboration — it's very good that we can talk to our colleagues in Kazakhstan and other countries in the region, because this is one of the very important elements of our reform: to collaborate, to bring international education to Uzbekistan, and for our universities to be known outside of the country. Research plays a very significant role. My time is over here, but if my colleagues will have questions, I will be glad to respond. Thank you very much for organizing this event, and we look forward to working with you in the future.

Moderator57:02

Thank you, dear Mr. Karimov. Again, Mr. Karimov is a director of a university which is producing diplomats who work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — collaborating with our countries, giving visas, and opening doors. It's important to work with such universities. The next word I wanted to give to the Rector who is doing great, successful integration in the Republic of Kazakhstan and completing the steps with the highest speed.

ENU Rector58:52

Dear colleagues, I wanted to thank you all, myself and the Research Support Center, for arranging this event and for the topic which collected us here today to discuss the higher education system. Different countries measure universities differently, and having world university rankings that measure all universities according to certain criteria, making them equal and analyzing who can do better, is really bringing change. Since 2010, universities following the mutual idea to collaborate and grow are succeeding. In order to succeed in rankings, we need to change a lot — we need to put attention on becoming international, bringing international teachers and students, and increasing research collaboration. We are trying and implementing, but it's not easy. Such meetings organized today bring a lot of sense and maturity. We feel that the owner and CEO of the world university rankings really takes care of Central Asian universities, but there is still so much to do. One of the most important challenges is changing the perception of teachers and staff — changing their way of thinking is the most challenging thing. It's easy to say you have to go and publish, but it's very hard to do if you never did. We need to invest in education and training, show people how they should change, and only then can this be a successful story. The quality of scholarly publishing should increase — we have to raise standards, implement separate programs, and build journals from zero to make them world-class and compatible with Scopus or Web of Science. One of our university's journals has been indexed in Scopus, and we invite colleagues to publish there. There should be much support and understanding from rectors, management, and society to increase and deliver results.

Moderator1:09:24

Thank you, colleagues. The next word I wanted to give to Mr. Adalat B, who is director of the State University of Economics. I see he just left for a meeting — he was waiting one hour to deliver a speech but unfortunately could not. What a pity. Colleagues, could you tell me — did Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan join? They had some troubles with joining. If you would not mind, I think it would be good if we continue with Nunzio's presentation. If our colleagues from Tajikistan are able to join, we would give them the floor.

Nunzio Quacquarelli1:10:48

Agreed, the floor is yours. Let me share my screen. Can you see my screen? Yes. I'm honored to be here. I really appreciated hearing about the progress many universities are making in the region and the commitment of the ministers to support that progress. I'd like to confirm to the Deputy Minister that we would be happy to review criteria for your journals and collaborate to make sure you're setting the right standards in augmenting the respect of your journals in the region. Today I've been asked by Enago to talk about the challenges facing universities in Central Asia, how QS can support those universities, and if any exceptions need to be made because you don't speak English as your native language. I've already commented on the visions your presidents have made, and I really respect the ambitions being set. It gives you support at a government level to go on a great journey. We've seen a significant uplift in participation of universities in the region within our Emerging Europe and Central Asia rankings, and there are 10 universities from the region in the global rankings. The region is making strong progress, and those results will be published on 16th of December 2020. QS is a mission-led company. We've had the same mission since 1990. I benefited from being an international student at Cambridge and Wharton. Everyone at QS is very passionate about supporting students in fulfilling their potential. In the United Kingdom, China, or Central Asia, we are really supportive when universities are trying to improve. The key challenges faced by universities in Central Asia are the same as institutions in emerging economies all around the world. The first challenge is to enhance research performance supported by insight and advice. The second is to build brand and reputation. The third is to attract the right quality students who meet employer needs and skills requirements. The fourth is supporting internationalization and international engagement to ensure you are recognized around the world for your excellence. These challenges are closely aligned with the criteria of world rankings — if you address them, that performance improvement will result in improved rankings. QS has been cooperating with the Uzbekistan Ministry of Education since 2019, developing a three-stage program: stage one advises on building brand and reputation and identifying best practices; stage two focuses on international collaboration and outreach; stage three drives improved research performance and deepens networks. We've also been cooperating with leading Kazakh universities since at least 2013. We've supported Al-Farabi University, which reached top 200 status through focused effort on improving research performance and growing international partnerships. We've been supporting Eurasian National University on benchmarking and strategic efforts, and collaborating with Nazarbayev University, which has an ambition to enter the top 200 of world rankings. As a summary, there's a roadmap for Central Asian universities: start with building brand, develop collaboration, focus on improving research quality and journal publication, which will result in significant increase in global recognition and improvement in ranking position. Looking at participation — 46% in Kazakhstan, 33% in Uzbekistan, 28% in Tajikistan, 28% in Kyrgyzstan, and 44% in Azerbaijan. But this can be improved. We encourage ministers and university directors to submit data to the QS Hub. There's still a lot of room for universities in the region to participate. If you have excellence in a particular subject, there's a strong opportunity to be recognized. The level of recognition in Asia, Western Europe, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and Latin America is very low. I encourage all rectors to broaden your reach and think about collaboration with institutions in these new regions, because you'll find it easier to get published in tier one and tier two journals if you're collaborating with faculty from developed markets. Employer reputation is an opportunity for you to shine. Any university in the world can share a list of up to 400 employers for inclusion in our survey. That is an opportunity to really accelerate your visibility. It is important to provide focused strategies to enter tier one and tier two journals. Singapore and China have been very successful over the last decade. In addition to raising the quality of your own journals, you also need to target international journals. The challenges for universities that are not native English-speaking are the same for everyone. You need to be the best you can be to stand out. You need more strategic partners, proactive research partnerships that correlate with reputation and impact, a more diversified international student body, skills match to employer needs, data-driven decision making aligned with your ministry and stakeholders, and digital innovation to provide students with the best access and pedagogical approaches. I think all these points are very aligned with the objectives of the Uzbek and Kazakh ministries. With your ministry's support, I think you have a chance for significant increase in participation within our rankings. Having visited the region, I know you have very talented faculty and a motivated student body — that is the most important thing. I'm confident in your future progress.

Moderator1:36:50

Thank you, dear Nunzio, for such a great presentation. Dear colleagues, now we are moving to the questions. We have a few minutes left. Do you have room for questions after your presentation? We have the first question from the director of the University of Journalism, Mr. Chat. He wanted to ask a question and share his experience.

University of Journalism Rector1:38:50

First of all, I wanted to emphasize that indeed, as you mentioned, in Uzbekistan the idea of rankings and competition was not highly raised until recently. In the last four or five years, we are changing and trying to change the whole environment and educational system. I want to thank you for accepting this invite and sharing honestly and showing us the path where we have to move. I also want to thank our Higher Education Council, the Ministry of Higher Education for always being supportive, and the Resource Support Center for building the bridge between different companies and universities. Uzbekistan has the highest population in the region — 35 million people — but only 9% were allowed to have higher education under the previous rules. We managed to raise this figure to 25%, but this is not the end. We want to raise these figures to cover more and more people and make them higher educated. Students of Uzbekistan want to learn very much and we need many more universities to be opened. Our students who cannot graduate in Uzbekistan travel abroad and study all around the world. We understand that in order to change, we need to move fast and in the most aggressive way. We need to build plans, build strategies, and adopt faster. When three years ago the University of Journalism was first opened in the country — which was a bit closed and not open to international society — there were only 100 students. Currently it's already 1,000. In three years we made 10 times growth. We are trying to develop in different directions and open different faculties. Dear Nunzio, I have a question: since we are the University of Journalism and we don't have mathematics, chemistry, or medical science, what is the opportunity for our university to get into world university rankings, and what are the challenges we may face on this way?

Nunzio Quacquarelli1:44:18

Thank you, Rector, for your comment and your question. I'm truly delighted to hear that you have grown your number of students from 100 to a thousand, and this focus on opening up Uzbekistan to international collaboration — you are living the delivery of the QS mission. It makes me very proud to hear that progress. So, the question is: what is the opportunity for a university specializing in humanities to feature in the world ranking? First of all, our ranking systems are normalized by subject type. It is not the case that you have to be a medical or life sciences university to feature in the rankings. A university like the London School of Economics features within our top 100 universities in the world with no science component. However, you do have to teach two broad categories to be included. You would need to be providing courses in journalism but also in other disciplines — maybe social sciences or some other area — in order to be considered. The reason is that if you're in humanities, your publications in journals are typically very low and it's hard to stand out and differentiate. Secondly, we are providing an evaluation of world university rankings and we want to not disadvantage highly specialized universities — that's why we have subject rankings. Even if you can't appear in the overall ranking system, you can qualify to appear in subject rankings. If your university becomes a center of excellence for any of the humanities, that is a route you can focus on.

Moderator1:50:28

First of all, I forgot to mention that Mr. Okam Parich, the honorable president of the Higher Education Council of the Republic of Uzbekistan, is also the director of the Tashkent Institute of Textile and Light Industry University. This is the only university in Uzbekistan which is ranked in QS. He's saying that indeed they did a very big job to get into the rankings — it was a huge path to overcome many barriers and challenges. Coming to academic and employer reputation, they work continuously year over year. In scientific publications, they had 80% year-over-year growth two years ago, and currently they have 50% year-over-year growth, which is really good. They grow in citations, but they have a question: how can they support the increase of employer response rate, because it is very low now? Most of the employers who fill in the survey are local, not international, and they are not English-speaking. When the survey comes in English, they may not understand it and ignore it. What can he do to increase this figure?

Nunzio Quacquarelli1:52:21

Very well taken question. And congratulations on being the first university to appear in the QS rankings. I think there are three more joining you this year, and I do believe you will see some improvement in your position in 2021, which is great. The efforts you're putting in are being realized. Our employer survey is distributed in Russian language in the region. We publish it in many languages around the world. Every country has the same challenge, and we do accept domestic as well as international responses. So all employers in the Central Asian region will be able to answer it in Russian. The second point is that, as I mentioned earlier, you can submit a list of employers for inclusion in our sample — up to 400 employers. We will then randomly sample for our survey to ensure we are covering the right employers for the region.

Moderator1:54:53

Why Russian? Why not in other languages?

Nunzio Quacquarelli1:55:01

Good question. I think we publish in about 20 languages at the moment. I'm afraid I have to leave — I have another meeting in my diary. I have very much enjoyed talking to everyone. I really appreciate the opportunity. Thank you to you, to Enago, and to the ministers and rectors for giving me this opportunity to share my thoughts.

Moderator1:55:30

Thank you so much for joining us today. I just wanted to give the last ending speech to the Regional Director from Enago, my dear friend Rena, to make closing notes. Thank you so much for your time — you really spent two hours of your valuable time for Central Asia. This is so much appreciated.

Rena1:55:55

Hi dear colleagues. On behalf of Enago, the organizer of this virtual conference, I want to thank all the speakers. Thank you, Nunzio. Thank you, dear ministers and directors, and our dear partner and co-organizer of this event, the Research Support Center. Thank you, Aliah, and your team. I will continue my small closing remark in Russian.