Ranking Webometrics Unpad Juli 2009: Melorot Lagi Menjadi Ranking ke-3142

Rilis ranking webometrics akhir Juli 2009, menempatkan UNPAD hanya pada peringkat ke-3142 di tingkat dunia dari sekitar 17.000 perguruan tinggi yang dievaluasi. Jika dibandingkan dengan rilis Januari 2009 yang menduduki ranking ke-2730, berarti ada penurunan peringkat sebesar 412 tingkat. Untungnya tidak anjlok hingga seperti setahun sebelumnya, yaitu pada bulan Juli 2008 yang hanya menduduki ranking ke-4110.
Dengan peringkat seperti di atas, Unpad masih jauh untuk bisa masuk ke kelompok 100 universitas top Asia berdasarkan pemeringkatan webometrics. Bahkan kali ini yang masih bisa bertahan di 100 besar Asia, hanya diwakili oleh UGM yang menempati ranking ke-72. Sedangkan ITB, yang pada semester lalu masih masuk top 100 Asia kali ini terdegradasi.
Di Asia Tenggara pun Unpad hanya berada pada posisi ranking ke-90, sebagai salah satu dari 19 perguruan tinggi Indonesia yang masuk 100 top Asia Tenggara. Sementara di tingkat Nasional, Unpad hanya berada pada ranking ke-17. Padahal pada periode sebelumnya, posisi Unpad menduduki ranking ke-12 (Januari 2009) dan ranking ke-16 (Juli 2008).
Webometrics memakai 4 kriteria penilaian. 1. Size (S), banyaknya halaman yang dapat dicari oleh searching engine Google, Yahoo, Live Search, dan Exalead. 2. Visibility (V), banyaknya unique eksternal links. 3. Rich File (R), penilaian terhadap aktivitas akademik dan banyaknya publikasi baik dalam bentuk pdf, ps, doc, maupun ppt. 4. Scholar (Sc), banyaknya paper, laporan penelitian, dan sitasi.
Untuk masing-masing kriteria, Unpad memiliki ranking: 2172 (S), 3884 (V), 3548 (R), dan 3764 (Sc). Jika dibandingkan dengan sebelumnya, sebetulnya telah terjadi peningkatan ranking dari kriteria-kriteria tersebut, kecuali kriteria (V) yang melorot dari ranking ke-3689 menjadi ke-3884. Artinya Unpad harus berusaha untuk lebih meningkat unique eksternal link-nya.

Bubble Trouble in the Humanities

Philip Gerrans
The cause of the meltdown in global financial markets is obvious: leveraged trading in financial instruments that bear no relationship to the things they are supposed to be secured against. When creditors finally ask how much bonds secured by collateralised debt obligations backed by billions of dollars of mortgages are actually worth, the answer is what the buildings can be sold for. In some cases, nothing. In many cases, the buildings are no more than weed-covered lots or graphics in a developer’s PowerPoint presentation. Article originally published in the Times Higher Education.
Full report on the University World News site
Source: University World News, EducatioIssue No: 0086 26 July 2009

Detecting Plagiarism and Collusion

Geoff Maslen
A Melbourne educationist has developed a free plagiarism and collusion detection tool called DOC Cop that can be used to check files against one another or against material on the web. The system does not retain any material submitted for investigation.
Inventor Mark McCrohon says that Doc Cop is ideal for ad hoc use by academics, bloggers, editors, journalists, researchers, students, teachers and writers. He says the system requires only an email address to get started and is in use within institutions and by individuals around the world.
"I worked at the University of Melbourne from 1998 to 2005 developing educational software for the web. I am currently a postgraduate student in the field of education," McCrohon told University World News.
More on the University World News site
Source: University World News, Issue No: 0085 19 July 2009

Free Help for Developing Nation Researchers

John Gerritsen
A group of undergraduates is hoping to make a difference in the world by offering a free editing service to help researchers from developing nations get their work published in mainstream English language journals.
SciEdit was launched in February by the Journal of Young Investigators, a peer-reviewed, non-profit science journal run by students around the world and based in the US. The SciEdit service offers free manuscript proof reading and editing in order to increase the likelihood research from scientists in non-English speaking and developing nations will be accepted by English language publications.
Editor-in-Chief Alexander Nikolich Patananan, a doctoral student in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said SciEdit had so far attracted about 10 manuscripts. But, because of their quality, none had actually been reviewed.
More on the University World News site
Source: University World News, Issue No: 0084 12 July 2009

Redefining Knowledge and Development

After 10 years of analysising systems around the world, the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge needs to redefine key concepts that underpin research and innovation and their contributions to development. Profiles and analyses of emerging knowledge systems in low- and middle-income nations have provided a vital building block – but it is limited in usefulness as the basis for new and more effective ways of linking knowledge with development for the benefit of developing nations.
Attention to lists of research gaps that emerged in the work of the Forum is likely to be valuable but does not necessarily constitute a basis for a different theory on knowledge and development, and a different practice that is better suited to the needs of low- and middle-income countries, writes Mala Sing in the final chapter of Forum's Research Report.It is time to rethink and re-theorise concepts such as what "counts as development within a Knowledge Society", and "what knowledge counts for development", she argues in a chapter titled "On the Way from the Forum: A future research agenda".
Full article on the University World News site
Source: University World News, Special Edition, Issue No: 0001 1 July 2009