A silent work, carried out by a small group at the Dean of University Development (PRDU), has been vital for Unicamp's results in the academic rankings.
In partnership with the units, the group has been able to extract statistical data and qualitative information essential to measuring Unicamp's performance in relation to other universities around the world.
Unicamp is today among the 200 best universities in the world, according to the QS World University Rankings 2023 assessment released in March. In nine research areas, it is among the 100 in the world. This performance is due to the University's ability to produce and disseminate knowledge, but it is also associated with the quality of the data presented to the companies responsible for the ranking.
The server Rosangela Leves, coordinator of the PRDU rankings team, says that data collection and systematization are processes that are constantly improving, and, as a result, contacts with unit directors have been more frequent.
"Last year, we visited, in person, 14 institutes and colleges to show directors the importance of having data not only from major areas, which already have consolidated systematization — such as scientific publications or internationalization —, but also to say that we need to move forward in areas such as academic reputation, business reputation and others,” she said.
The coordinator remembers that, to obtain data that is closer to reality, the QS ranking measures the university's reputation. To do this, the company asks participating universities to nominate 400 academic references — who are professors and researchers — and 400 references from non-academic professionals, potential employers of students and alumni. These professionals, academic and non-academic, can attest to the quality of teaching and research at the University.
Rosângela Leves says that, in addition to the difficulty of obtaining contact with former students, there is also the complication of the General Personal Data Protection Law (LGPD) — which regulates personal data processing activities.
"We have to ask for authorization from the former student to transfer any data from them to the company that prepares the ranking and, often, this process is very time-consuming”, he argues.
One of the solutions, she says, has been Alumni Unicamp — a virtual community made up of former teachers and former students — which currently has around 6 thousand members. But, in addition, the partnership with the units, which send contacts of academics and non-academic professionals, has been of fundamental importance, highlights the coordinator
Despite the difficulties, the group's contacts with the units have been effective. In 2022, Unicamp managed to make 194 academic contacts. This year, there were already 340. The evolution also occurred in business contacts, which rose from 226 last year to 277. Rosângela Leves Please also remember that this list needs to be changed every year.
The PRDU group maintains permanent interaction with University bodies, such as the DAC (Academic Board), Comvest (Entrance Exam Committee), the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Aeplan (Economics and Planning Advisory), Deri (Executive Board and International Relations) and Edat (Office of Institutional Data and Decision Support), subordinate to the CGU (University General Coordination).
According to Leves, this interaction has allowed the obtaining of data that is at the University, but which ends up diluted in the units. For example, the group has been trying to systematize data such as the student's life history. "We are being asked for more in-depth information about the student's profile, such as, for example, whether they are the first in their family to go to university”, says the coordinator. “This is data that we have, which needs to be systematized and which we provide to the companies responsible for the rankings”, she explains.
Dozens of indicators
Professor Renato Garcia, advisor at PRDU, explains that, despite evaluating institutions with different objectives, these rankings classify universities based on information about major areas — teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international vision —, but not only.
They examine dozens of indicators, whose weights vary according to the institution's region and area of knowledge. Another ranking, THE Impact, prepared by THE (Times Higher Education), is aimed at evaluating the university's actions in the areas of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"THE Impact is completely different from the others. It has an important quantitative part, but it also has a large part in which Unicamp needs to provide evidence of the actions carried out by the university. As it is focused on the 17 SDGs, the ranking measures how engaged the university is with these objectives”, he explains.
The professor believes that deepening the information will result in better data, but highlights the importance of the partnership between PRDU and the units. "I have no doubt that having more organized information ends up playing a fundamental role in defining the university’s position within the ranking”, he states.
Pro-Rector of University Development at Unicamp, Professor Fernando Sarti recalls that, increasingly, universities are creating internal structures to organize this information, and not just for the ranking.
"It is important, because [this organization] will bring, within the university, a series of indicators, so that the institution can better manage this data and that the use of this information can have impacts not only on research, but also on research programs. extension, amplifying the impact of the University’s actions on society”, he concludes.
