The Agency for Higher Education of the Republic of Srpska held on April 27, 2021, the first seminar for representatives of higher education institutions in the Republic of Srpska, which presented a general approach to the ranking of higher education institutions in the Republic of Srpska. The seminar was held through the Zoom application.
The Agency is in charge of preparing a project proposal for the ranking of higher education institutions in Republika Srpska in accordance with the activities of the Government of the Republic of Srpska to strengthen the integrated approach of all sectors involved in the process of higher education reform and quality assurance. The goal of this project is to better inform students and other stakeholders, measurable indicators that will be the basis for developing future strategies in the field of higher education, encouraging higher education institutions to continuously develop and improve quality systems and increase scientific productivity in the context of international visibility and recognition.
The Agency has prepared a proposal for the project of ranking higher education institutions which defines the principles of ranking higher education institutions in Republika Srpska, the method of determining ranking criteria, data collection and processing, activity plan, deadlines and executors, which is available on the Agency's website -https://www.heaars.com/images/rangiranje.pdf.
The ranking project is based on the following principles:
- multidimensionality (covers different areas of activity of institutions: education, research, innovation, internationalization and community relations),
- independence (conducted by experts in the field of quality system and ranking outside the higher education system of the Republic of Srpska),
- transparency (offers users a clear insight into all factors used to measure results),
- globality (comparability with existing recognized ranking methodologies).
The ranking criteria are based on the Berlin Principles of Ranking with a special focus on the evaluation of the three missions of the university: teaching, research and cooperation with the economy and the community. It is planned to determine a set of criteria for each component and weight factors for each criterion.
In the next seven months, the project will run as transparently as possible on the basis of similar projects in the world.
For these purposes, an expert team composed of recognized experts in the field of quality assurance in higher education from the countries of the region (BiH, Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia) has been hired for the implementation of the project. The expert team consists of the following composition:
- prof. Darko Petkovic, PhD, from the University of Zenica (team leader),
- prof. Mile Dzelalija, PhD, from the University of Split, Croatia
- prof. Pero Sipka, PhD, from the Center for Evaluation in Education and Science, Belgrade, Serbia and
- prof. Tadeja Jere Jakulin, PhD, from the University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia.
Director of the Agency prof. Biljana Vojvodic, PhD, presented the references of the expert team, while prof. Darko Petkovic, PhD, presented various ranking systems of higher education institutions in the world, ranking projects in the region, as well as the basics of ranking projects, ranking criteria and the dynamics of the implementation of activities within the project.
The seminar was attended by 34 representatives of higher education institutions, expert team and the Agency for Higher Education of the Republic of Srpska.
It is planned to hold two more seminars for representatives of higher education institutions in order to explain in more detail the criteria and weighting factors of the criteria that will be taken into account when ranking institutions, as well as bibliometric basis of ranking and ranking model.
