مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - ACADEMICIANS’ OPINIONS ABOUT INCREASING THE PERFORMANCE IN UNIVERSITY RANKINGS BY WEBOMETRIC AND ARWU

Abstract :

This study examines academicians’ opinions about increasing the performance of Suleyman Demirel University in the criteria of ranking organizations like Webometric and ARWU. A qualitative research design with special case study technique was employed. To collect the data, a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 academicians from Faculty of Technical Education at the Suleyman Demirel University. Content analysis was used for data analysis. The findings were categorized and interpreted under the each criteria of university rankings. The most frequently mentioned themes regarding web performance include (a) establishing personal web pages, (b) publishing lecture notes, course schedules and abstracts of research articles on the Internet, (c) introducing existing research projects, materials and laboratories on the Internet, and (d) cooperating with private sector. In order to improve academic performance, (a) increasing the number of published papers, (b) encouaraging quality of research papers, (c) increasing the number of experimental studies, (d) accreditation of research laboratories, and (e) increasing the number of research staff were the most frequently emphasized suggestions in the interviews.