According to Lolita Jurkšienė, Director of Strategy and Quality Management at Kaunas University of Technology, the results of the rankings are not an instant achievement.
“This is the result of steady and consistent work. Although the rankings, especially international ones, are important to us and we always pay extra attention to their analysis and forecasting, their results are not the main goal of the University’s activities, but rather the outcome,” says Jurkšienė.
According to her, although the validity of ranking methodologies, their applicability in different environments and conditions, and their (dis)usefulness for higher education institutions can be questioned, international rankings assess the essential university activities.
“High quality of studies and research, outstanding achievements of students (both during and after their studies), enhancement of internationalisation, cooperation between science and business, and the development of a modern infrastructure for studies and research will always remain our key objectives, regardless of them being assessed (or not) by various ranking organisations,” emphasises Jurkšienė.
KTU’s Strategy and Quality Management Director believes that consistent improvement of results is ensured only by a holistic approach to the most important aspects of activities and the focus of the whole community.
Climbed the rankings by more than 80 positions in research quality
In the rankings this year, 75 per cent of the Baltic Sea region’s universities improved their positions in the research quality indicator “Citations per Paper”. Among them, KTU has had the biggest jump, rising by 87 places.
According to Jurkšienė, although the improvement of ranking positions is a continuous result of KTU researchers’ activities, there are some other key factors in play. One of the most important aspects affecting KTU research quality is the fact that KTU ranks first among all Lithuanian participating institutions in terms of funding attracted by the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation “European Horizon” (the total amount attracted by the University exceeds EUR 33 million).
“This result demonstrates KTU’s ability to produce top-level scientific results and innovations of the highest added value, to effectively increase the level of internationalisation of the university, to promote international networking, and to significantly increase the competitiveness of the country’s higher education and industry,” says Jurkšienė.
Equally important, according to her, is the University’s particular focus on the development of state-of-the-art research infrastructure. The KTU-coordinated project “Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Living and Working” (KTU) is a major contributor to this.
“Centre of Excellence of AI for Sustainable Living and Working” (SustAInLivWork), the establishment of the M-Lab Centre for experimental and prototyping laboratories, and the creation of the Technological and Physical Sciences Excellence Centre (TiFEC) are just some of the examples that will undoubtedly contribute to further development of the outstanding quality of KTU research,” emphasises the Director of KTU Strategy and Quality Management.
KTU graduates get professional employment within a year
In this ranking, KTU was surpassed only by VMU in terms of graduates’ employability after studies, but, according to Jurkšienė, KTU does not quite agree with this assessment.
“It is very important to note that the graduate employability indicator is complex. In the data collection process, universities only provide the actual value of graduate employability. According to the 2023 data, the employability rate of KTU graduates is 90 per cent and even 84 per cent of KTU graduates are employed as highly qualified professionals within 12 months after graduation – these are truly remarkable results!” emphasises Jurkšienė.
According to her, if we compare the data from the Lithuanian Education Management Information System (2022–2023 graduate employability 12 months after graduation (bachelor, master, professional and full-time studies) and the formula used by the QS ranking to calculate this part of the criterion, we will see that KTU’s results are among the best in Lithuania, in this ranking.
“However, this QS Europe ranking criterion also includes another component, the graduate impact indicator, which is assessed by the ranking agency by analysing the profiles of randomly selected graduates. In this case, the impact is analysed in areas such as business, politics, higher education and charities,” explains Jurkšienė.
According to the representative of KTU, these results reveal that the university must think about a strategy to encourage KTU graduates to be more courageous and open about their achievements.
“Or, in other words, not to be afraid to promote themselves, because we know very well that they develop outstanding products and processes, create services and produce other results that have a significant impact on the development of science, business, politics and society,” says KTU’s Director of Strategy and Quality Management.
