University of Tehran jumps 100 places in international rankings

The University of Tehran (UT) has climbed as many as 100 places in international rankings with remarkable improvement in the quality of the varsity's scientific, educational, and cyberspace practices.

Iran's premier higher education institute is currently ranked as the world's 205th best university, according to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, the university announced through a promotional video broadcast on its internet TV on Wednesday.

The ranking system has been in operation since 2004, when it was proposed by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and is currently the biggest governmental organization active in the field.

The evaluation mechanism prides itself on assessing the world's universities not just based on the number or quality of articles and books published by them on the annual basis, but also in line with a whole host of other earmarks.

These include the level of the universities' contribution of technology to industries, the missions that are defined by universities, their relation with and impact on society, and even the universities' influence on the political arena.

Visibility across the Internet is among the other criteria that are checked in the assessment mechanism, which takes into account the volume of a given university's cyberspace presence, and its capability to communicate content to internet users.

This year, UT's scientific openness and transparency, which took an international aspect with the launch of the university's internet TV, played a major part in the improvement of its international ranking, which also took the university to the 41st spot among its Asian competitors.

"Initial assessment shows that the University of Tehran's internet TV, and the number of visits that are made to the university's website as well as open access and [level of] transparency of information, have been very effective on the ranking," said UT president Dr. Mohammad Moqimi.

Courtesy of Press TV