16.00 – 18.00 IREG Ranking Audit experts meeting (closed meeting at Austria Trend Hotel)

19.30 – 22.00 Welcome Reception (Location: Austria Trend Hotel)

Monday, 10 October 2011

8.30 – 9.00 Registration

9.00 – 10.00 Opening Session

Speakers:

• Jan Sadlak, President of IREG Observatory (opening remarks )
• Ferdinand Devinsky, Board Member, Academic Ranking and Rating Agency (ARRA), Slovak Republic
• Karol Micieta, Rector, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Keynote speaker: Eugen Jurzyca, Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sport, Slovak Republic

10.00 – 11.30 First Session : Origins and trends in national rankings

Chair: Ying Cheng, Executive Director, World-Class Universities Study Centre, Graduate School of Education, Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China

Speakers:

• Bob Morse, Director, Data Research, US News & World Report, USA: How it all begun and where is it heading?
• Waldemar Siwiński, Vice-President of IREG Observatory; President, Perspektywy Education Foundation, Poland: National rankings as an integral part of the global university landscape
• Gero Federkeil, Vice-President of IREG Observatory; Manager in charge of Rankings, CHE – Center for Higher Education, Germany: What can national rankings learn from the U-Multirank project

Discussion

11.30 – 12.00 Coffee Break

12.00 – 13.30 Second Session : Evolution and new initiatives in national rankings – state of the art in 2011

Chair: Paul Serban Agachi, President of the Academic Council, Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Speakers:

• Ivan Ostrovsky, Vice-Rector, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia: ARRA´s experience in identification of the top research teams: case study of Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Francesco Grillo, Managing Director, Vision & Value, Italy: VISION Ranking of Italian universities
• Algimantas Sindeikis, Publisher of journal “Veidas”, Lithuania: Ranking of Lithuanian universities

Discussion

13.30 – 15.00 Lunch

15.00 – 16.30 Third Session: Evolution and new initiatives in national rankings – state of the art in 2011 (continuation)

Chair: Boguslaw Smolski, former Director, National Centre for Research and Development, Poland

Speakers:

• Cai Juan Wen, Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China,
  and Ying Cheng, Executive Director, World-Class Universities Study Centre, Graduate School of Education, Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China: New university ranking in China
• Patricia Georgieva, Quality Assurance in Higher Education Expert, Bulgaria: Introducing the university rating system in Bulgaria – purpose, methodology and first reactions
• Fatih Omruuzun, Informatics Institut, Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey: URAP – University Ranking by Academic Performance

Discussion

16.30 – 16.45 Coffee Break

16.45 – 18.15 Fourth Session : Role of rankings in national educational systems

Chair: Thomas D. Parker , Senior Associate, Institut for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), USA

Speakers:

• Nguyen Phuong Nga, Director General, Institute for Education Quality Assurance (INFEQA), Vietnam National University in Hanoi: National University rankings in Vietnam: The influence of international rankings on methodology
• Sholpan Kalanova, President, Independent Quality Assurance Agency (IQAA), Kazakhstan: Role of university rankings in Kazakhstan
• Erik Martijnse, Director, Department of Higher Education, Dutch Inspectorate of Education, Netherlands: Transparency in the quality of higher education and the role of performance profiles: the Dutch experience

Discussion

20.00 Conference Gala Diner (Location: Austria Trend Hotel)

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

9.00 – 10.30 Fifth Session : Methodology issues of national and international rankings

Chair: Waldemar Siwiński, Vice-President of IREG Observatory; President, Perspektywy Education Foundation, Poland

Speakers:

• Valerie Thiel, Consultant at Elsevier B.V.: SciVal: input, output and outcomes
  
• Evgeny Kniazev, Director, Center for University Management, National Research University “Higher School of Economics” in Moscow, Russia: Ranking as tool for creation diverse and competitive higher education landscape in Russia
• Ilie Rotariu, Profesor, „Lucjan Blaga” University in Sibiu, Romania: Ranking influence on Romanian universities

Discussion

10.30 – 11.00 Coffee Break

11.00 – 12.30 Sixth Session : IREG Ranking Audit – setting the standards while increasing reliability

Chair: Klaus Hüfner, Coordinator of IREG Ranking Audit; Professor Emeritus, Free University of Berlin, Germany

Co-Chair: Gero Federkeil, Vice-President of IREG Observatory; Manager in charge of Rankings, CHE – Centre for Higher Education, Germany

Panel of Auditors:

• Carla Cauwenberghe, Senior Inspector, the Dutch Inspectorate for Education, the Netherlands
• Stanislaw Chwirot, Dean, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun (former Chairman of the Polish University Accreditation Council), Poland
• Tom Parker, Senior Associate, Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), USA

Discussion

12.30 – 13.00 Closing Remarks

Jan Sadlak, President of IREG Observatory

13.00 Farewell lunch

13.30 – 15.00 IREG Observatory Executive Committee Meeting ( closed session )