The Essential Usefulness of the Results of Global Rankings for Greek Universities

Article by the Rector of NKUA, Professor Meletios-Athanasios Dimopoulos, on tomanifesto.gr

The international University rankings (also known as just ‘the Rankings’) are now an integral part of the everyday academic life of our Universities. They also attract interest and attention, for they are considered by the public a confirmation of the quality and value of studies in Greece.

Irrespective of all laudatory articles and publications about the strong performance of Greek Universities in the Rankings, the question still holds: are international Rankings useful, and how should the administrative authorities of our Universities benefit from them?

As far as Higher Education in Greece is concerned–at undergraduate level at least–the usefulness of University Rankings is twofold: they highlight the major research impact, the vanguard, and innovation of our Institutions, on the one hand, and constitute an answer and counterbalance to a peculiar populism, which deliberately discredits the good Greek public University, on the other.

Graffiti sprayed on the walls, squatting on the premises of the Universities, assaults upon Rectors, and problems caused by tiny minorities, cultivate a rhetoric and mentality of discredit, but in no case reflect reality.

The mere fact that a Greek University secures a spot in the top 300 of a global Ranking means practically and by reduction that it is in the 1 percent of top Universities worldwide.

‘For 2022 NKUA ranked 12 times in the top 100 in 7 different global Rankings’

Based on our previous experience and the conclusions reached with the University task force that has been studying the Rankings for the last four years, we believe that the results of global Rankings should not lead us to either triumphalism or complaint.

International Rankings offer a unique opportunity for our Universities to promote their multifaceted academic and research work.  They confirm that, despite internal or external difficulties, a small country like Greece can produce good quality public Higher Education.

At this point, we should mention that several Ranking Organizations ask all participating Institutions to provide data by making and submitting detailed reports through the various platforms and software these Organizations possess.

Also, in most cases, participating Institutions are asked to attach texts, official accounts, and other documents—in English—that give proof or evidence of the submitted data.

The readers now understand that to participate in the global Rankings and claim the position that is rightfully ours, we cannot but go through a complex evaluation process that takes considerable resources and a lot of time.

The year 2022 saw a continuation of accomplishments for NKUA in most global Rankings. This was a result of our strategy in NKUA, our collaborative effort, and the significant research conducted by our academic community. Indicatively we mention some of these accomplishments:

1. For 2022 NKUA ranked 12 times in the top 100 in 7 different global Rankings.
2. According to Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, NKUA ranked 75^th globally for ‘Gender Equality’ and 81^st for ‘Reduced Inequalities’.
3. More frequently than any other University Department, the School of Medicine was placed higher than 100 in a global Ranking. For 2022 it was listed no fewer than five times in the top 100 Universities worldwide in different Rankings, with its most important distinction being the 46^th place internationally in the subject ‘Infectious Diseases’ of the US News Best Global Universities Rankings.
4. NKUA’s School of Dentistry ranked in the 51-70 bracket of the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings and thus found itself among the top 70 Schools of Dentistry in the world and the top 30 in Europe.
5. In the same Ranking, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens ranked in the 51-80 bracket worldwide in the subject ‘Classics & Ancient History’.

In conclusion, it should be made perfectly clear that our University’s constant rise in global University Rankings is not just the result of a better or more systematic approach to the issue. It is rather the outcome of the multilevel and impactful research produced by the members of our academic community.

The results of global Rankings are a reward for our work at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. They have contributed the most to shaping NKUA as we know it today, an internationally acclaimed research-oriented Higher Educational Institution.