Nowadays, there are more than 20 institutions that rank universities all over the world, using different criteria. ISC World University Rankings is another institution in the Middle-east than includes Khon Kaen University under its rank every year. And this year, KKU is ranked the 4th in the country by ISC World University Rankings 2021, the 14th in Asia and the 900th in the world. The score this year is also higher than last year.
The criteria of ISC World University Rankings 2021 by the Islamic World Scientific Citation Center (ISC) include the following indicators and percentages: 1) Research 60%, 2) Education 10%, 3) International Activity 15%, and 4) Innovation 15%.
Information for Research Education and International Activity are obtained from InCites databases of Clarivate Analytics & Web of Science, and the information on Innovation is obtained from the US Patent & Trademark Office as well as percentage in Industry Collaborations during a period of 3 years. The details are available at: https://wur.isc.ac/Home/Methodology.
Asst. Prof. Tala Thammaroj, M.D., Vice President for Administration of Khon Kaen University revealed, “The weight used by ISC World University Rankings 2021 in general will be more on research (60%), which differs from other institutions where the category of Reputation is more emphasized. Usually, research outcomes do not change in a short period; the work must be gradually accumulated for a long time. With Khon Kaen University’s strategy that emphasizes more on quality research and research conducted as a Research Program, the result of ranking under the institutions that see the importance of research is thus better each year”.
The Vice President for Administration added, “The higher rank results from our work in research and internationalization, especially when there is international collaboration that keeps on increasing. When compared to last year, under this ranking, Khon Kaen University has improved in research and international aspects, which correlate to the University’s strategy. However, in Education and Innovation, the scores are more or less the same as last year. Research and Internationalization scores that are higher means our research has higher quality and international collaboration in research, instruction and academic services has also increased, which are reflected in the ranking”.
In addition, the Vice President for Administration explained about the importance of ranking by different institutions that KKU sees them as significant at certain level, but not as the ultimate goal. Ranking is something we can use to compare to other universities, both in the country and abroad, and hence see the strength and weakness of those universities and our university so that improvements can be made. Therefore, ranking is good in terms of benchmarking. Different ranking institutions use different indicators that we can use to plan the University’s strategy in order to become a world class research university.
Asst. Prof. Tala Thammaroj, M.D. added, “The vision of Khon Kaen University is to become a world class research and development university. The world indicators mainly rely on research in this regard. Development is also important and is defined as the use of knowledge to help develop the community and society. To become a world class university, the work outcomes must attain a certain level that is evident both in the country and internationally, and these outcomes must be used to help develop the country.”
Finally, the Vice President for Administration thanked all that contributed to this success, especially the lecturers, students and personnel. The works are the research conducted by the lecturers. Thanks are extended to students, who may be undergraduate, master’s degree, and doctorate degree students who have worked for the research work outcomes, those working under the intellectual property group, patent rights group, and innovation group; all have taken part in this success and the higher rank. All should be proud of themselves for what they have done for the University.
Edited by Asst. Prof. Tala Thammaroj, M.D., Vice President for Administration of Khon Kaen University
Compiled and written by Jiraporn Prathomchai, Communications Division
