The word “breakthrough” characterized discussion at IREG 2023 Conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (27-28nApril), and led to the conclusion that nothing in the world of rankings will be the same in the coming years. : “I often participate in various conferences and seminars, but I have not met such a substantive and engaged discussion for many years” observed Komiljon Karimov, first deputy minister of higher education, science and innovation of Uzbekistan. Alex Usher of Higher Education Strategy Associates, Canada added: “One of the most interesting ranking discussions I’ve heard in years. The difference in discourse around rankings after leaving a rich country is huge – here there is much less about marketing and much more about system control/benchmarking.”
Among the speakers there were: Prof Seeram Ramakrishna, FREng, Everest Chair, National University of Singapore, and Alex Usher, HESA, Canada; Isidro F. Aguillo, Webometrics, Spain; Ying Cheng, ShanghaiRanking, China; Bogumila Kaniewska, Rector, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland; Tom Parker, US; Gero Federkeil Federkeil, CHE, Germany; @Piotr Stepnowski, Rector, University of Gdansk; Marian Preda, Rector, University of Bucharest, Romania; Frans Kaiser, CHEPS, Netherlands; Mustafa Kok, Rector, METU University, Turkey; György Fábri Fabri, ELTE University, Hungary; Ghassan Aouad, Chancellor of Abu Dhabi University, Habib M. Fardoun; Sergei Khristoliubov , QS; Riri Fitri Sari, GreenMetrics, Indonesia. A significant contribution was made by the team of Elsevier, a partner of the conference, headed by Vice President M’hamed el Aisati .
The IREG 2023 Conference with close to 200 participants from 28 countries was hosted by the TIIAME National Research University and its rector , Bakhadir Mirzaev.