Wołkonowski: It is not a ranking, it is a hustle

“Reitingai” magazine has published the ranking of the best universities in Lithuania. Of all, the Faculty of Informatics of the Vilnius Branch of the University of Białystok took 9^th place, while the Faculty of Economics took 11^th place.

“We backed out from the ranking. From both of them, in fact (the ‘’Veidas’’ weekly ranking – editor’s note), as the criteria in both are unclear. There was “Veidas” which made the ranking, then some people left “Veidas” and set up the other magazine. So I told them that till the situation will be clear we will not take part in this. I do not know how it happened that we are included in the ranking as we did not give them any data”, explained Jarosław Wołkonowski, the dean of the Faculty of Economics and Informatics in Vilnius, when talking to zw.lt.

When talking to zw.lt Wołkonowski emphasized that the rankings are not objective as one magazine is dependent of Micha Romer University, which is a shareholder. The branch on the other hand, as a branch of the University of Białystok takes part in webometrics, the international ranking including 25 000 universities from all over the world. According to this ranking, the University of Białystok is in the 1643^th place (August, 2014), overhauling such universities as Michał Romer University and the Educological University.

In the dean’s opinion the most important criterion should be if a university graduates find employment after having finished their studies. According to the Ministry of Education and Science, Lithuanian Labour Exchange did not record any graduates of the branch. “The rankings are fictional as for me it is employment that is the most important. Michał Romer University has 20% unemployment rate while we have 0. (…) If a person is a graduate and is recorded as unemployed it is a sign that a university produces the unemployed. We do not have such”, emphasized Wołkonowski.

The dean added that the university polled its graduates. The research showed that from 200 graduates 150 found employment in Lithuania. “We got an impression that they are working in their fields”, added the head of the establishment, emphasizing that there is a wide array of opportunities for a graduate from the faculty of economics as such person can work as an accountant, a manager or a car service executive. Similar story with a graduate from the faculty of informatics. “Those rankings are mere writing for writing’s sake, it is a hussle”, summed up Wołkonowski.

As distinct from “Veidas” weekly, “Reitingai” monthly assessed not universities but the achievements of certain departments. “Ranking of this kind was conducted in Lithuania for the first time. It is aimed at people applying for higher education. It gives more information than regular institutional research”, wrote the ranking’s instigators.