How do the most recognized universities manage to obtain the best results? Learn to distinguish quality …
The most productive universities are not necessarily the ones that invest the most.
- Before choosing a University, you need to confirm that you really pursue innovation. This concept can completely mark your professional future.
- There are some rankings that qualify universities according to their productivity. What is productivity in a university?
- Finally, you should know some indicators that will help you to know in the type of institution in which you could apply for a place. Do this analysis with time. It is important.
The task of training the professionals who will lead the companies of the future implies being at the forefront of innovation at all times. The best universities must therefore go ahead of the trends of the market itself, and even, the advisable thing is to study in a prestigious institution, of which they mark themselves the tendency.
How to distinguish better universities than others?
The factors that make a university considered “better” than another can be subjective and objective.
Subjective
Are those factors that imply that for you or for a group, for some reason, one institution is better than another. Number of specialties in certain disciplines, specific teachers that raise the perception of quality, etc.
These are data that you should evaluate with respect to the career you want to study in particular.
Goals
They are factors with measurable and quantifiable scales. Salary of recent graduates in their first job, completion of studies, publications made by the teaching staff, etc. In this type of objective values the world-known rankings are usually based.
There is a widely used measure: productivity, in fact many of the existing rankings, value this scale.
How do you know if a university is productive?
In general, the rankings that order universities according to their productivity take into account three factors …
- The number of patents generated by the center
- Dropout rates
- The publications made by academics and teachers of the university
What does each factor represent?
- Patents: Investment and focus on research by students and / or teachers.
- Abandonment: It speaks to us of the capacity to hope, to attract attention and to involve the student in the educational system. The student must recognize the “usefulness” of the training from the first day. If these circumstances do not occur, the abandonment rate increases.
- Publications: Is the creation of ongoing trends, a demonstration of the innovative approach of the entire faculty.
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The disruptive universities are changing higher education
If we analyze the 3 previous factors, as is logical the conclusion is …
- The creation of new knowledge is one of the fundamental pillars to achieve a quality status in the university.
- Belong to an institution that innovates, researches and publishes to share with society; It can be important in a student’s career.
- The education received and perceived by the student will also have a higher quality and, therefore, will have better dropout rates.
We tell you what are the 5 strategies used by the most prestigious universities to ensure the permanence and improvement of these three fundamental pillars, and that you should know how to distinguish when deciding where to study …
1) Educational Digital Transformation
A university that seeks to increase its productivity and retain talent must become digital. But not only updating their website and social networks, but permanently thinking digitally to be in tune with their researchers and teachers.
Some tools that you should have at an advanced university in the digital field …
- Platforms for communication with teachers, between students and work groups.
- Virtual classrooms in which to access the documentation, suggested links and other readings.
- Explicit e-learning resources, explained and reported as part of the trajectory.
- Other accessible resources in the university itself and in associated institutions, such as webinars, online courses, work with other universities, etc.
2) Continuing education
The important thing is to keep academics, teachers and students always updated to market demands, for this, internal and external resources are used. Innovation often also comes from outside.
Online courses on the university’s platform, courses from foreign universities, exchanges, seminars and presentations of all kinds.
By offering specific training opportunities for each of them, the university will ensure that these improve their professional profile and therefore increase their value.
3) The importance of strategic alliances and agreements
With other local or foreign universities, with research centers, private institutions, companies, scientific publications … Everything that allows to give more visibility and opportunities to the university’s own talents will be well received.
To achieve this, it is necessary to invest, it is true, but it will be an investment with direct return on the productivity of the center.
4) Technology in DNA
In order to carry out the aforementioned actions and to facilitate all kinds of administrative or educational processes, centers that wish to increase their productivity must incorporate technology in all possible areas. Technology is not only an educational platform, but must be fully integrated into the “metabolism” of the entire institution.
This is what large centers do, which are at the top of all educational rankings, so the good way to analyze how the institution could improve the inclusion of technology is to consult what other centers do.
5) Enhancing Soft Skills
In order for the teaching and research teams to function correctly, and to constantly pursue innovation, its members must know how to work as a team and manage projects.
By actively transmitting the so-called Soft Skills, universities will ensure that their equipment really works as it should and give maximum effort to obtain the desired results.
As in any company, improving the productivity of a center does not necessarily mean investing more, but investing better. Universities have students, teachers and researchers who can take the center to its highest level, to effectively achieve more productivity must retain them doing not need to be elsewhere.