Asst. Prof. Tala Thammaroj, M.D., Vice President for Administration of Khon Kaen University explained about the ranking that this year, 1,673 universities from all over the world entered the QS World University Rankings, or 145 more universities than the previous year. Around 1,300 universities are placed in the World Rankings, and Khon Kaen University is at 801-1,000 place of the world and the 5th of Thailand.
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“Khon Kaen University has continuously performed better and better during the years in the QS World University Rankings until this highest rank this year. The 10 years back Percentile was 81.3. This means that if there were 100 universities, we were at 80+, or if there were 1,000 universities, then we were at 800+. By the QS World University Rankings 2021, our Percentile was 67.5. This year, 2022, the Percentile moves up to 61.6, meaning that if 1,300 universities make 100%, we are at the 61.6 rank, which is higher than in the past,” Asst. Prof. Tala Thammaroj said.
The improvement of performance of Khon Kaen University in the QS World University Rankings 2022 is from the strict and intensive measurements of 6 indicators, namely, 40% of academic reputation, 10% of employer reputation (graduates are accepted by employers), 20% of student-to-faculty ratio, 20% of citations per faculty, 5% of international faculty ratio, and 5% of international student ratio, totaling 100. It can be seen that the ranking is placing the importance of reputation and acceptance, which are at very high proportions.
Asst. Prof. Tala Thammaroj, M.D. added that Khon Kaen University is ranked higher because our scores for being known and accepted are higher.
“The QS World University Rankings differ from other rankings in placing higher proportions on reputation and acceptance, or nearly 60%. If the university has been founded for a long time, has a lot of research work and various academic services, collaborates with foreign countries, then the score in this regard will be high. The measurement of reputation and acceptance is done from the survey made with over 2 million academic representatives and entrepreneurs all over the world, and over 450,000 academic institution representatives. The survey was conducted on email. It was asked, for instance: What universities do you know in Asia? What universities do you know in Southeast Asia? What universities do you know in Thailand? Therefore, of we are known by scholars, or organizations that employ international academicians, then we score high in this respect.”
Although the 5th rank of Khon Kaen University from the world ranking institution in 2022 is the pride and reflects the work of over 50 years of KKU, the greater expectation is a higher rank in the next year. The Vice President for Administration sees that the key to that goal is to build more good reputation and acceptance at the international level.
The Vice President for Administration explained that the target for the next year is to be the 4th of the country. This kind of operation is like running in the Marathon. We are like a sprinter and cannot speed up abruptly, for that means everyone will be exhausted. Operation just like this must be firm, sustainable, and long-term. Khon Kaen University is 50 years old, therefore, what we should accumulate are reputation, acceptance, research and academic service. Our future direction will thus be guided towards research and academic works in order to build reputation. We must find the ways to be increasingly known, which can be in collaboration, instruction, research, project performance with foreign institutions. Our researchers must be supported to conduct quality research and more research projects collaborated with international institutions.”
“In fact, there are universities from newly emerged countries entering this ranking competition. There are 145 more universities entering the ranking this year. This reflects that no matter if it is the Middle East or China, the governments are intensively supporting their universities to conduct research works and provide academic services. Therefore, if we run slower, we will fall behind. We have to strengthen all of our weak points. It is like running in the Marathon where we must take consistent steps. Therefore, the target of the 4th rank of the country by QS World University Rankings next year is not a leaping target. We are stepping firmly in the long run,” ended Asst. Prof. Tala Thammaroj, M.D., the Vice President for Administration.
