Ranking Methodology for the Universities of Bangladesh

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  VarsityAdmission.COM is the pioneer and largest higher education web portal in Bangladesh. Visitors of this site are mostly students who are aimed at higher education both in home and abroad. They search for admission circular, scholarship and student visa information on this site. VarsityAdmission.COM has been serving the nation since 2003 by providing these information to the students and thus saving thousands of work-hour of them. For the last six years, our visitors wanted to know the list of 'Quality University' from us. They want us to prepare university ranking. That is why VarsityAdmission.COM has taken initiatives to rank the universities of Bangladesh.

Higher Education Institute (HEI) Ranking Principles
The International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) was founded in 2004 by the UNESCO European Centre for Higher Education (UNESCO-CEPES) in Bucharest and the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, DC. In IREG's second meeting (Berlin, 18 to 20 May, 2006) it has been convened to consider a set of principles of quality and good practice in HEI rankings-the Berlin Principles on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions. We are following 'Berlin Principles' to rank the universities of Bangladesh.

A. Purposes, Goals, Data Source, Limitation of Rankings
This ranking should be used as a measure of comparative study. That means, the top ranked university can be the best choice for the admission seekers among all universities based on different parameters and their weights. But it does not mean that the top ranked university possesses all the qualities it should. It is merely a comparative study. This ranking is helpful for the admission seekers and their guardians to make a decision in case of choosing university for admission. It will provide the information about 'best value for the price' they are going to pay as tuition, especially in case of private universities.

Data Sources
Sources of the data we used in ranking are university websites, UGC annual report, approved subject list of private universities provided by UGC, brochure, leaflet, booklet from the university, and the university authority. After collecting all the information we will put it into our database. Then we will communicate this information to the corresponding universities for verification. We will update our database with this new data and finally will generate the ranking result.

Limitation of Ranking
This ranking does not mean to be 'quality' of the universities. It is designed for the prospective students. This will enable them to choose university and subject for their higher education based on information. In the case of higher education ranking, research work by the faculty members and students has great importance. Number of PhD/Mphil degrees awarded is another factor to measure quality. Employment rate of the graduates and how the employers assess the graduates are also important. We will not address this issue in this ranking.
Larger universities will get better result. Total number of teachers, books in the library, subjects taught in bachelor, masters, Mphil and PhD level carry some points. Own campus, especially for the private universities, will play a vital role. But we will not differentiate small and large campus area.

Re-scaling of the Points
After calculating and adding the points, we will scale up the highest point to 1000. Other universities are also scaled up proportionately. Then we will get the final rank of the universities based on this re-scaled point.



B. Design and Weighting of Indicators
We have assigned highest weight to the infrastructure (26%), then to faculty quality (23%), then student quality (16%), student facility (15%) and the number of subjects taught (9%). Total point assigned is 1000. Table below shows the point distribution.


Sl. No.    Item    Points
  1      Infrastructure    260
  2      Faculty Quality    230
  3      Student Quality    160
  4      Student Facility    150
  5      Graduate Employment    110
  6      Subjects Taught    90
       Total    1000




Ranking Point Distribution (Detail)

Infrastructure: Weight 26%
Campus (Total Marks 40): Universities operating in own campus will get full marks and 20% marks for those who are operating in rented house. It is the guideline from the UGC that private universities must shift to own campus within 5 years. Some new private universities might be affected because they still have some time in hand to shift to their own campus. But there are some newer private universities that are running on own campus. On the other hand some older universities are running in rented campus even after 5 years. So credit or dis-credit should go where it is due.

Library [# of Books] (Total Marks 10): Universities with the highest number of books in the library will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Library[Books to Student Ratio] (Total Marks 10) ): Number of total books in the library to the number of total student ratio is the determining factor of this point. Universities having 100 or more books per student will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Library [# of Title] (Total Marks 10) ): Universities with the highest number of title in the library will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Library [Title to Student Ratio] (Total Marks 10) ): Number of total titles in the library to the number of total student ratio is the determining factor of this point. Universities having 50 or more titles per student will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Library [# of Journal] (Total Marks 10) ): Universities with the highest number of journal in the library will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Library [Journal to Student Ratio] (Total Marks 10) ): Number of total journals in the library to the number of total student ratio is the determining factor of this point. Universities having one or more journals for every 10 students will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Library [# of Online Access] (Total Marks 20) ): Universities with the highest number of online subscription and thus access to online library will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Total Bandwidth Usage [Internet Access] (Total Marks 13) ): Universities with the highest bandwidth usage will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Per Student Bandwidth Usage[Internet Access] (Total Marks 12) ): Universities with the highest bandwidth usage per student will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Website [PageRank] (Total Marks 20) ): It is said that "If it is not on Google it doesn't exist!". It might disturb some people, but it is a reality to the majority for whom the Web has become a seamless part of their knowledge environment. Academics and institutions that recognize and respond to this new environment ultimately will be among its beneficiaries. Universities with highest PageRank website will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately. Universities with no website will get 5 penalty points. There are some international ranking based on G-Factor which means visibility in google search engine and link from other higher education institutes. Webometrics ranks universities based on only the websites.

Website [Usefulness] (Total Marks 25) ): Most easy and convenient way to communicate message and information with the audience is the website. We have set the 10 parameters to measure the usefulness of the website. They are admission circular, tuition fee information, hostel facility information, teacher list, department list, admission test result, class routine, exam routine, exam result and notice board. Total 40 points for these 10 items, each item carries 4 points. And 10 points are assigned to navigation facility of the website. We examined websites of all universities for the recent and up-to-date information of above parameters.

Residence Facility [Male] (Total Marks 25): The percent of total male students getting residence facility is the factor of this point. For example, the university that is providing residence facility to 80% of its male students will get 80% of total marks assigned to this item.

Residence Facility [Female] (Total Marks 25): The percent of total female students getting residence facility is the factor of this point. For example, the university that is providing residence facility to 80% of its female students will get 80% of total marks assigned to this item.

Canteen, Common Room, Transport, Alumni (Total Marks 20, 5for each): Universities that have these facilities for the students will get full points allocated for it. Other universities will not get any point if they have no such facilities. Equal points are allocated for each of canteen, common room, transport, and Alumni irrespective of their size and service delivery.

Faculty Quality: Weight 23%
Quality faculty is the key element to quality education. It is assigned the second highest weight. We considered Student-Teacher ratio, number of full time teacher, part time teacher, and PhD degree holder teacher to measure this factor.

Student : Full Time Teacher Ratio (Total Marks 75): Student to full time teacher ratio of 25 is considered standard. Universities with student- full time teacher ratio 25 or less will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Student : PhD Teacher Ratio (Total Marks 55): Universities with highest PhD degree holder teachers will get full marks. 50% marks for the universities with lowest PhD degree holder teachers. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Full Time : Part Time Teacher Ratio (Total Marks 35): More part time teacher means the students are not getting after-class discussion facility with the course teacher. One part time teacher for every two full time teacher is considered satisfactory. Universities having part time teachers 50% (or less) of its full time teacher will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Student : Total Teacher Ratio (Total Marks 65): Student to teacher ratio of 20 is considered standard. Universities with student-teacher ratio 20 or less will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.


Student Quality: Weight 16%
Entry Requirements (Total Marks 160): Students should be capable of receiving quality lesson from the quality teachers. Quality of students indicates the quality of the university. We measure the student quality on the basis of entry requirements in undergraduate courses only. We found different entry requirements for the different courses. So we averaged the minimum GPA of SSC and HSC that is required to get admission in different undergraduate courses.
Universities with highest entry requirement will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Student Facility: Weight 15%
Expense per Student (Total Marks 35): Universities with highest expense per student will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Average Cost to Complete an UG course (Total Marks 55): Universities that are offering lowest price for the education they are providing in bachelor degree level will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Class Held Ratio (Total Marks 30): Some universities enjoy two days as weekly holiday, some enjoy one day. So there is no scope to measure this parameter as total number of classes held. We assume, 290 classes could be held in a university that enjoys one-day weekend and 240 classes could be held in a university that enjoys two-day weekend. If total classes held is greater than or equal to the number of classes could be held, full marks will be awarded. Other universities will get marks proportionately.

Student-Staff Ratio (Total Marks 10): Full marks are for the universities with lowest student-staff ratio. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Online Application (Total Marks 20): Universities providing the facility to apply digitally (through Internet, SMS etc.) will get full marks. O ther universities will get no points.

Graduate Employment: Weight 11%
Employment Rate (Total Marks 60): Employment Rate is defined as the percentage of graduates who were employed within 6 months of passing. Universities with highest Employment Rate will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately. Universities that have not produced any graduate yet will get 50% marks.

Employers' Perception (Total Marks 50): At what level an employer is satisfied with the graduates of a university is defined as Employer’s Perception. The employer use this perception in the decision of further recruitment. Universities with highest Employer’s Perception will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately. Universities that have not produced any graduate yet will get 50% marks.

Subjects Taught: Weight 9%
Undergraduate Subjects (Total Marks 50): Universities with highest undergraduate subjects will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Graduate Subjects (Total Marks 25): Universities with highest graduate subjects will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

PhD/MPhil Subjects (Total Marks 15): Universities with highest PhD/MPhil subjects will get full marks. Other universities will get points proportionately.

Penalty: 100 Points
Penalty point is not part of total points of 1000. Rather it is used to judge the management capacity of the university authority. Some private universities are offering subjects and courses that are not approved by the UGC. This is neither ethical nor expected from organizations like Universities. Some public universities are wasting the valuable time of students by not completing its courses in due time. It is the failure of the management. Both the cases should be penalized.

Session Jam (Total Marks 50): We found some departments of the same university have session jam and some have not. We got the average session jam of different departments to calculate the session jam of the university. Universities with highest session jam will get full penalty marks. Other universities will get penalty points proportionately. Universities with no session jam will get no penalty. This penalty marks will be deducted from the total marks of the university. Some public universities will be affected by this parameter.

Un-authorized/Un-approved Subjects Taught (Total Marks 50): The universities that are offering and running courses not approved by the UGC will get penalty. This is a unique case in Bangladesh. Universities with highest number of un-authorized/unapproved subjects will get full penalty. Other universities will get penalty proportionately. This penalty marks will be deducted from the total marks of the university. Some private universities will be affected by this parameter.


(Source: http://www.varsityadmission.com)