U-Multirank Glossary

Bibliometric indicators

Bibliometric indicators seek to measure the quantity and impact of scientific publications and are based on a count of the scientific publications produced by the academic staff of a university and the number of times these are cited in other publications. The bibliometric analyses in U-Multirank are based on an extensive verified data base of academic publications – the Thomson Reuters data base. U-Multirank partner CWTS (Centre for Science and Technology Studies) at Leiden University is responsible for all of the bibliometric data.

Indicator (performance measure)

Performance measures or indicators are the different areas of university performance that are used within U-Multirank to compare universities.

Continous Professional Education (CPD)

CPD is the means by which members of professions maintain, improve and broaden their knowledge and skills and develop the personal qualities required in their professional lives, usually through a range of short and long training programs, some of which have an option of accreditation. This job-related continuing education and training refers to all organised, systematic education and training activities in which people take part in order to obtain knowledge and/or learn new skills for a current or a future job, to increase earnings, to improve job and/or career opportunities in a current or another field and generally to improve their opportunities for advancement and promotion. CPD activity is not part of the regular teaching activities supported through the institution’s general grants and tuition fees paid by students enroled in degree programmes.

Licensing agreements

If a patent is given, the owner of the patent may grant permission to a licensee to use the invention protected by the patent. In the license agreement the financial compensation the licensor will receive from the licensee is specified.

Royalities, copyrighted products

Income from copyrighted products for which the institution holds the copyright. Copyrighted products are manuscripts, designs, software, and goods of an artistic or literary nature protected by copyright law. Copyright is a right to prevent copying of original literary, artistic and musical works, and computer software.

Total income

Total revenues of the institution in the calendar year. The total consists of: (1) the direct public expenditures allocated to the institution; (2) Fees from households and students; (3) Direct expenditures of other private entities (other than households) to the institution; (4) Direct foreign payments to the institution.

Post-doc position

A postdoctoral scholar (“postdoc”) is a junior researcher, holding a PhD or other doctoral degree. They may be funded through an appointment (usually: a fixed-term contract) with a salary, or an appointment with a stipend or sponsorship award.

Doctoral candidates

Students pursuing a doctorate (PhD, or Doctor of Philosophy), either as a student enroled in a PhD programme offered by a PhD awarding institution, or as a member of an institution’s staff (having been appointed as a research trainee) with the explicit goal of completing a PhD thesis (doctoral dissertation).

Foreign nationality (staff)

Foreign nationality means: not a citizen of the host country. If a staff member has more than one nationality and one of those is the nationality of the host country, the staff member is not counted as “with foreign nationality”.

Full-time equivalent (staff)

FTE is calculated based on the “normal or statutory working hours”, (not the “total or actual working hours” or “total or actual teaching hours”). The full-time equivalence of part-time academic staff is therefore determined by calculating the ratio of hours worked by part-time academic staff over the statutory hours worked by full-time academic staff during the academic year. FTE is recorded in person-years and represent the working load over the entire year.

Academic staff

Academic staff includes personnel whose primary assignment is instruction, research or public service. These staff include personnel who hold an academic rank with such titles as professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor, lecturer, or the equivalent of any of these academic ranks. The category includes personnel with other titles (e.g. dean, director, associate dean, assistant dean, chair or head of department), if their principal activity is instruction or research. It does NOT include student teachers or teaching/research assistants.

Reference period used (staff)

Reference period used (staff) refers to the moment the employment status is measured. Since the standard period used in (national or institutional) graduate surveys may differs from 18 months after graduation, the alternative period used should be specified.

Reference year (staff)

The reference year (staff) refers to the year indicated in the explanation and instruction of the respective questionnaire, if possible. In the event of data not being available for this year, the year must be specified.

Standard period of study

The standard period of study refers to the number of years, set out in law or regulations, in which a student can complete the programme.

Personal services (subject)

The subject group “services” comprises the subfields personal services (hotel and catering, travel and tourism, sports and leisure, hairdressing, beauty treatment, cleaning, laundry, domestic science), transport services (seamanship, ship’s officer, nautical science, air crew, air traffic control, railway operations, road motor vehicle operations, postal services), environmental protection (including labour protection and security) and security services (including military).

Health and social services (subject)

The subject group “health and welfare” comprises the subfield “health” and “social services”. Health comprises medicine (anatomy, epidemiology, cytology, physiology, immunology and immunohematology, pathology, anaesthesiology, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, internal medicine, surgery, neurology, psychiatry, radiology, ophthalmology), medical services (public health services, hygiene, pharmacy, pharmacology, therapeutics, rehabilitation, prosthetics, optometry, nutrition), nursing (basic nursing, midwifery) and dental services (dental assisting, dental hygienist, dental laboratory technician, odontology). Social services comprises social care (care of the disabled, child care, youth services, gerontological services) and social work (counselling, welfare not elsewhere classified).

Agriculture (subject)

The subject “agriculture” comprises agriculture, crop and livestock production, agronomy, animal husbandry, horticulture and gardening, forestry and forest production techniques, natural parks, wildlife, fisheries, fishery science and technology, as well as veterinary medicine and veterinary assisting.

Science (subject)

The subject group “science” comprises the subfields life sciences (excluding clinical and veterinary sciences), physical sciences, mathematics and statistics and computing.

Engineering (subject)

The subject group “engineering, manufacturing and construction” comprises the sub fields engineering and engineering trades, manufacturing and processing, architecture and building.

Social sciences, business and law (subject)

The subject group “social sciences, business and law” comprises the sub fields social and behavioural science (economics, economic history, political science, sociology, demography, anthropology, ethnology, futurology, psychology, geography, peace and conflict studies, human rights), journalism and information, business and administration and law.

Humanities and arts (subject)

The subject group “humanities and arts” comprises the sub fields arts (fine arts, performing arts, graphic and audio-visual arts and design) and humanities (religion and theology, native languages, other humanities).

Education (subject)

The subject group “education” comprises the sub fields teacher training and educational science.

Level of programme

Level of programme refers to BA, MA or PhD. For additional information on the levels, see “Other”.

Other (Programmes)

Although most countries only have a “first” advanced research qualification (e.g. the Ph.D. in the United States), some countries do award an “intermediate” advanced research qualification (e.g. the Diplôme d’études approfondies (DEA) in France) and others award a “second” advanced research qualification (e.g. Habilitation in Germany and doktor nauk in the Russian Federation). Accounting for these intermediate and second awards in the classification scheme is important to define the boundary around the first advanced research qualifications. Research degrees below Ph.D. may either be considered as intermediate degrees and not counted at all in the U-Multirank data collection, or, if not of intermediate character, be classified as Master’s degrees. The enrolments may however be counted as doctorate enrolments, as it may not be possible to distinguish between students in Ph.D./Doctorate’s programmes and these programmes until the point of graduation.

Undivided (programmes)

Undivided refers to “Pre-bologna”, undivided ‘master-level’ programmes. The three cycle Bologna structure is not yet fully implemented in all European systems. As a consequence, in the coming few years there will remain a stock of students in “old” pre-Bologna programmes. These programmes will be treated in U-Multirank as master-level programmes.

Short degree

Short degree includes first cycle degrees awarded in programmes lasting two or less than three years. For example: Associate degrees, Foundation degrees, etcetera. This excludes programmes that are classified as Continuing professional development (CPD) training programs of a vocational character.

Online Programmes

Online programmes refers to education in which instruction and content are delivered primarily over the Internet. The term does not include printed-based correspondence education, broadcast television or radio, videocassettes, and stand-alone educational software programs that do not have a significant Internet-based instructional component.

Programmes offered in a foreign language

Programmes offered in a foreign language refers to programmes offered in a language other than the mother tongue of the country the institution is located in.

Standard period of study in years

The standard period of study in years refers to the stipulated number of years (set out in law or regulations) in which a student can complete the programme. The number specified relates to the majority of the programmes offered by an institution at the respective levels.

Total number of programmes offered

The total refers to programmes, irrespective of their mode of delivery (full-time, part-time, etc). Full-time programmes that have an equivalent that is offered in a part-time variant are regarded as one and the same and do not count as separate programmes.

Degree programmes

Degree programmes refer to programmes or courses that lead to a degree (BA, MA or PhD). Programmes or courses that do not lead to degrees (e.g. courses that lead to certificates or diplomas) are excluded.

Students in internships in the region

Students in internships in the region, refers to the number of students (BA and MA level, or similar) that carried out an internship in an enterprise or another organisation (public organisation; non-profit organisation, hospital, etc.) in the reference year.

Students in internships

The number of student internships carried out in an enterprise or another organisation (public organisation; non-profit organisation, hospital, etc.) started in the reference year. The minimum length of internship should be 6 weeks or 10 credits. Internships provide real world experience to those looking to explore or gain the relevant knowledge and skills required to enter into a particular career field. Internships are relatively short term in nature with the primary focus on getting some on the job training and taking what’s learned in the classroom and applying it to the real world. Interns generally have a supervisor who assigns specific tasks and evaluates the interns overall work. For internships for credit, usually a faculty will work along with the site supervisor to ensure that the necessary learning is taking place.

New entrants bachelor programmes from the region

Percentage of new entrants that prior to their registration in the institution had a place of residence located in the region (NUTS-2 or an equivalent territorial area within the respective country) where their institution is situated. If the institution has multiple campuses in different regions within the country, students that were resident in any of the campus regions are regarded as coming from the institution’s region. The NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) classification established by Eurostat is a system for dividing up the economic territory of a country. There are three levels of NUTS defined, with two levels of local administrative units below the level of the entire country (NUTS-1). The NUTS-2 level relates to the basic regions for the application of regional policies. It is the region immediately below the country level (Read more). In smaller countries, the three NUTS divisions each correspond to the entire country. In case of non-EU countries we request you to refer to the relevant administrative subdivision of the country (e.g. into provinces or states) according to the ISO 3166 standard (Read more). If an institution only has students beyond the level of Bachelor, then the information is not applicable (NA).

New entrants other programmes

The number of students (headcount) who are enrolled in other programmes during the current reference period but were not enrolled on that programme in the previous year.

New entrants of degree programmes

The number of students (headcount) who are enrolled in the programme during the current reference period but were not enrolled on that programme in the previous year. This information is used to calculate the respective graduation rates in a way that allows international comparisons.

Students in international joint degree programmes

A joint or double degree programme is a programme set up in close cooperation between two or more partners in the context of a partner agreement. Successful conclusion of the programme leads to a diploma from the respective partner institutions.

Students sent out in international exchange programmes

The number of students going abroad to another higher education institution for a period of at least three months within the framework of an official exchange programme. Students who are not in an official programme should not be included.

Incoming students in international exchange programmes

The number of students who come from abroad to the higher education institution for a period of at least three months within the framework of an official exchange programme. Students who are not in an official programme should not be included.

Foreign degree seeking students

Number of degree seeking students who gained access to the institution’s programme based on a qualification awarded abroad. This information is used to determine the international orientation of the institution.

International students

Degree seeking students who gained access to the institution’s programme, preferably based on an entry qualification awarded abroad. If the country awarding the entry qualification cannot be referred, then the student’s citizenship can be used. Students with double citizenship do not count as international students.

Doctoral candidates

Doctorate candidates are persons who are registered to be active in obtaining a doctorate/PhD degree. In some higher education institutions, doctoral candidates are counted as students, in others as academic staff. There are also institutions in which some are staff and others are students. To obtain internationally comparable data on academic staff and student numbers, the number of doctoral candidates counted as staff needs to be identified.

Academic Year (Reference Period)

An academic year is the annual period during which a student attends an educational institution. The year in many countries starts in August or September and ends in May, June or July in the following calendar year. In India, the academic year normally starts in June and ends on May 31. Universities in Australia typically have academic years that roughly align with the calendar year (i.e. starting in February or March and ending in October to December), as the southern hemisphere experiences summer from December to February. In U-Multirank, the reference period refers to the academic year starting in that year. For example: the reference period 2020/2021 refers to the academic year starting in 2020. For Germany this implies: starting after summer 2020 and finish 12 months later. In Australia this would be: start in February 2020 and finish in December 2020.

Public/Private character

An institution is classified as public if it is controlled and managed: – directly by a public education authority or agency or, – either by a government agency directly or by a governing body (Council, Committee etc.), most of whose members are either appointed by a public authority or elected by public franchise. An institution is classified as private if: – it is controlled and managed by a non-governmental organisation (e.g. a Church, a Trade Union or a business enterprise), or – its Governing Board consists mostly of members not selected by a public agency. There are two types of private institutions: independent private and government-dependent private institutions. A government-dependent private institution is one that either receives 50 percent or more of its core funding from government agencies or one whose teaching personnel are paid by a government agency – either directly or through the government. An independent private institution is one that receives less than 50 percent of its core funding from government agencies and whose teaching personnel are not paid by a government agency. The “Core funding” refers to the funds that support the basic educational services of the institutions. It therefore excludes: – funds provided specifically for research projects, – payments for services purchased or contracted by private organisations, or – fees and subsidies received for ancillary services, such as lodging and meals.

Founding year of current institution

The founding year refers to the year in which the institution in its current constitution was founded. The current status foundation year is identified by the following criteria: (1) name, (2) location, (3) legal status and (4) activities as prescribed in the institutional mandate (for example law or statute). If at least two or three characteristics were modified this should be considered as a change of status.

Name of institution

The name of the institution is the name as stipulated in the legal registry or founding act.

Founding year of oldest part of institution

In case the institution in its current constitution is the result of a merger or alliance of a number of separate institutions or schools (see separate question), the founding year for the oldest part will be considered the “founding year of the oldest part of the institution” – an ancestor of the current institution.

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