We are entering the second quarter of the Perspektywy University Ranking with a bang! On March 25, the Ranking Board, chaired by prof. Michał Kleiber, made several corrections to the methodology to take into account the current situation in higher education and science.

And so, in the Academic University Ranking 2025 we are giving up the “Citations” indicator, which is most susceptible to manipulation by dishonest scientists. The disclosure of these practices ("paper mills" and others) by professional scientific portals, daily press and opinion-forming weeklies/monthlies, had a wide resonance in the Polish academic community. The problem in this matter was announced by Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (CRASP), Polish Academy of Science and industry conferences of rectors. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education appointed a special commission chaired by prof. Piotr Jedynak, rector of the Jagiellonian University, to investigate the scope of this phenomenon and indicate corrective measures.

• In order not to reduce the role of research in the Ranking, the points "released" from citations were moved to indicators that are less susceptible to manipulation: the normalized citation index, FWCI (Field Weighted Citation Impact) and the indicator rewarding the best publications in the most prestigious scientific journals (Publications in Top 10 Journal Percentiles).
  
  
• The Ranking Board also decided to reduce the weight of the "Parametric Evaluation" indicator. It is becoming less and less relevant, as it reflects the situation from 2018-2021 (statutorily, evaluation within scientific and artistic disciplines is carried out every 4 years, the next one will take place in 2026). The previous evacuation is widely criticized for the way it was carried out (including the large scope of the minister's interference in the list of journals) and the selection of evaluation criteria inadequate to the specificity of many disciplines. This justifies reducing the weight of this criterion by one fifth. The points "released" from the evaluation were moved to other indicators within the same criterion: "Academic staff with highest qualifications" and "Teaching in doctoral schools ". The weight of the indicator reflecting the amount of research funds obtained from European Union programs was also minimally increased.
  
  
• All these changes were introduced in accordance with the methodology of the Ranking by Subject (which includes only academic universities). This ranking evaluates the 75 most popular fields of study, including - for the first time - a field related to artificial intelligence and large data sets, "AI & Data Sciences".
  
  
• A significant change in this year's Perspektywy University Ranking is the combination of the previous rankings of private universities and state academies of applied sciences (formerly state higher vocational schools PWSZ) and the creation of a consolidated Higher Vocational Schools Ranking 2025, educating at the master's level, with the status of a higher vocational school. As stated during the discussion at the meeting, after 35 years of the existence of private universities in Poland and 27 years since the emergence of State Higher Vocational Schools (PWSZ), it is high time to evaluate universities not depending on their ownership status, but on quality!

PERSPEKTYWY