The head of the research group “Cybermetrics Lab” – CSIC, Mr. Isidro F. Aguillo, is visiting KFU. He was interviewed by a correspondent of “Kazan University” and told him about upcoming events and «Webometrics» ranking.

- What will you tell Kazan University representatives?

- At the meetings I am going to tell the audience how Russian universities can improve their positions in “Webometrics” ranking. I think that information about classification criteria and ways to improve ranking indices will be very useful for the Volga Region universities, and especially for KFU.

- Which criteria are used to estimate universities in “Webometrics”?

- Such criteria as web site fill rate, support level and popularity can be named. Quality and quantity of information are very important for us. The site must become a platform not only for the administration, but also for all members of the university. Professors, librarians and even students should work at the site filling with content.

- How can you characterize positions of Russian universities, especially of KFU, in “Webometrics” ranking?

- We use common standards for all universities from the whole world. From this point of view, European universities have distinct advantages, while some specific features of Russian universities are simply ignored. Now I am trying to learn more about Russian educational system and maybe this information will improve positions of Russian universities in “Webometrics” ranking.

If we are speaking about nowadays situation, Moscow State University and Saint Petersburg State University should be marked among Russian universities. Recently KFU has been showing significant growth, standing a good chance to come out on top.

- What can you offer universities which want to improve their positions in “Webometrics” ranking?

- As I noted before, site development is not a task for a specific group of people, but for all administration stuff. Everyone should work for the site improvement.

The next moment – information must be not only in Russian and Tatar, but also in English. And here is the main problem: for native speakers this information is presented in a very good way, but there is a problem with an English version.

- Do you think prospective students pay attention to rankings when choosing a university?

- First of all, different rankings use different criteria for ranking universities, and my “Webometrics” is just one of those rankings. When prospective students and their parents look at rankings they can yield a complete picture of what’s going on in the university and how it is developing. When choosing a university you should browse different resources not limiting yourself to one source of information only.

Isidro Francisco Aguillo Caño

Mr. Aguillo was born in 1963 in Aro (Spain). He graduated from Complutance University of Madrid with a degree in Biology (1985), then did Master’s degree in information theory in Carlos III University in Madrid (1992).

Since 1997 he has been an editor of “Cybermetrics” magazine, being a member of editorial committees of many scientific journals. He gives lectures all over the world and takes interest in ornithology.

Since 2000 he has been heading the research group of “Cybermetrics” Lab at the Center of Social and Human Sciences (CCHS) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Mr. Aguillo is the developer of “Webometrics” international ranking of universities.

“Webometrics” ranking is calculated by “Cybermetrics” research group that has been a part of Spanish National Research Council since 2004. “Webometrics” analyzes the university presence in the Internet, not its educational activity as a whole. Ranking criteria are content fill rate, support level and popularity of universities’ web sites.

Information source: Anna Kirpichnikova, “Kazan University” newspaper