UVic tackles international ranking performance

UVic President Jamie Cassels late last month announced the launch of a Global Reputation and Rankings Project that will ensure UVic’s global impact is being accurately assessed by the world rankings systems that have become so influential in recent years.

The project is led by VP External Relations Carmen Charette and project managed by Tony Eder, executive director, academic resource planning. A steering group of representatives from the academic, research and external relations portfolios and the president’s office are providing support.

“Reputation is an important asset for our university. It underlies the value of a UVic degree to our students and informs the choices made by future students, faculty and staff, potential partners, governments and other decision-makers,” said Cassels in a Sept. 29 email to members of the President’s Advisory Council (PAC).

“The aim of the project over the next year is to improve UVic’s international standing by ensuring that our rankings submissions are complete, comprehensive and in line with postsecondary education best practices.”

Illuminate Consulting Group (ICG), a firm with extensive experience in supporting universities to develop their international rankings strategies, will meet with a variety of units and individuals on campus to help UVic identify ways to professionalize the university’s participation in the rankings processes.

ICG will also work with the project steering group to develop a strategy to optimize future submissions and focus outreach efforts to global partners such as faculty and research collaborators, employers and alumni on key UVic attributes. This is intended to address the gap that appears in some ranking assessments between UVic’s academic reputation on surveys and its stronger performance on research impact measures.

Updates to the campus community as well as opportunities for feedback will be scheduled as the project progresses. Its key findings will be communicated when the project concludes in fall 2018.

“The results of this project will be critical in supporting the priorities and actions identified in our next strategic plan. The project should also provide additional answers to what ‘being the best’ globally looks like and how we can get there,” Cassels told PAC.