FPIK, SEMARANG -​ Times Higher Education (THE) again issued ranking results for the Asian level in early June 2021. The results put Diponegoro University (UNDIP) in 6th position in Indonesia and 401+ in Asia. The Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2021 uses 13 performance indicators that are also used to carry out a global ranking by providing specially calibrated weights to reflect the priorities of educational institutions in Asia.

The strict assessment carried out by THE made only 9 universities in Indonesia that managed to enter the rankings based on the ranking order, namely the University of Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology, Surabaya Institute of Technology, Gadjah Mada University, Bogor Agricultural University, Diponegoro University, Padjadjaran University, Telkom University and Brawijaya University. University of Indonesia is in the top position with a total score of 32,9. THE assesses 13 performance indicators covering four main missions of higher education, namely teaching, research, transfer of knowledge to the wider community and international engagement. This year, UNDIP managed to achieve a fairly high score on citations and research.

UNDIP is in the 401+ position with an overall range of 12,9-21,6 and an overall calculation of 19,8. Citation 15; industrial income (transfer of knowledge to the industrial world); 43,2, international outlook (calculated based on the ratio of the number of teachers, students, foreign staff and international cooperation) 26,5; research 12,8 and teaching 24,9.

The Head of the UNDIP Rating Office, Prof. Dr. Denny Nugroho, ST., M.Si, said that THE refers to the order of letters (alphabet) for the group with the same range, namely 401+ with an overall score of 12,9-21,6. Meanwhile, if the data is calculated and analyzed based on the Citation (30%), Industry income (7,5%), International outlook (7,5%), Research (30%), Teaching (25%), then the total score of UNDIP is 19,8 so that it ranks 6th nationally. 

“We have done the calculations and sorted based on the total score. If we are not careful and careful we can misinterpret it. Some media usually only look at the order on the website to see the ranking order,” said Prof. Denny Nugroho, Sunday (6/6/2021).

The current ranking results are one of the important references used by students and their families in choosing a university. The government and universities also use THE ranking results as a reference for various policies. The high need for ranking results is evidenced by the high number of visits to the THE World University Rankings website, where in a year the number of visits reaches almost 30 million.

UNDIP Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Yos Johan Utama, SH., M.Hum, emphasized that the university he currently leads continues to make improvements so that the qualifications of graduates and their learning process are getting better and in accordance with the goals outlined. “We continue to encourage the qualifications of lecturers with the one professor one candidate program. For research, not only lecturers and researchers who continue to produce reputable scientific works, we also encourage and facilitate students so that they can produce innovative works that are beneficial to the community, “said Prof. Yos Johan.

University performance is important in preparing superior human resources, as well as developing knowledge. As an illustration of how important it is to strengthen higher education institutions, the Japanese government announced plans to increase the allocation of an endowment fund of £70 billion for research at universities in response to the rising performance of public universities’ rankings which had fallen in recent years. (Adm, Dhany and Tim Humas)