Home university rankings are a response to international isolation

By Serhiy Kvit. Ukrainian universities do not take part in global rankings. The reason is quite simple – the paradoxical structure of universities, implemented by the Soviet government in the early 1920s, still holds sway: academic research takes place outside universities.
Research is formally conducted within the institutes of the National Academy of Sciences, while the university is reserved for teaching.
The Ministry of Science and Education considers university researchers’ publications in peer-review journals as an example of their international activity, rather than as the academic achievements of the higher education institutions where they work.
Minister of Education and Science Dmytro Tabachnyk thinks the main reason for Ukrainian universities’ non-presence in global ratings is their laziness and unwillingness to fill in the necessary application forms. More...