Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University is, according to all the major international rankings, the best medical university in Poland. This is indicated by prestigious rankings. However, in the last evaluation assessment of the Ministry of Education and Science, the Jagiellonian University Medical College received only B + grade in all three disciplines.
- Prof. Tomasz Grodzicki, vice-rector for Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University, explains where this discrepancy came from and how administratively, and not through research, it was possible to achieve a higher grade
- The professor emphasizes that science is not built with artificial statistical maneuvers: – Some universities moved a dozen or so percent of employees from research and teaching positions to teaching positions in order to improve their effectiveness! The question is whether thanks to this the scientific achievements of these universities have become better?
- The university is appreciated around the world, e.g. in Shanghai Ranking 2022 – in the field of public health it was classified in the range of 101-150, in the fields of medicine and pharmacy in the range of 201-300
- It also has high positions in Polish rankings, such as Perspektywy. Nevertheless, the ministerial evaluation gave it only a B + rating
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University has been ranked first in the Perspektywy Ranking for many years in the fields of medicine, public health, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing etc. The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Medicine ranked the Jagiellonian University Medical College in the range of 251-300 in the world. In turn, the Times Higher Education World University Ranking (THE WUR) 2022 Clinical Medicine awarded its range of 251-300 in the world. Another Polish university was ranked below 601 place.
MedTvoiLokony: Congratulations on the high position of your medical university on the Shanghai list.
Prof. Tomasz Grodzicki, vice-rector for Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University: This news is undoubtedly happy. If we look at the results, it is certainly not worse than it was in previous years, and this list includes as many as 1,8 thousand. universities around the world. In medical fields, we are the most widely represented of all Polish universities. In pharmacy and public health, we are by far the highest ranked. International recognition is of great importance to us, and the aforementioned rankings show that we are perceived positively in the world.
Perceived positively in the world and at the forefront of Polish universities in world rankings. But on the evaluation list of Polish universities, I did not find Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University in the A + category, i.e. the highest one.
Yes. And you will not even find us in category A, but B +, which is an average.
In the previous evaluation, Collegium Medicum had the grade A. So what has happened recently? Did this decision surprise you?
Yes, I have to admit. I assumed that the ministry, declaring out loud the awareness of the drawbacks of evaluation, would take into account the remarks from the academic community. Unfortunately, principles which, in my opinion, are contrary to the philosophy of science have been maintained. In addition, the evaluation of journals and publications began to be manipulated without taking into account their actual scientific position.
The quality of science can be assessed in a parametric manner (e.g. publication of results in the best journals, the number of citations of publications or researchers, the number of patents, the number of European or national grants) or in a discretionary manner – what is the reputation of a given researcher, center or university in the community.
In my opinion, we should all show great concern for how the evaluation of scientific units is carried out – because it, to some extent, determines what science in Poland will be like in the future.
Meanwhile, in Poland, we came up with an innovative way of evaluating science, i.e. the number of publications that a given researcher could show as part of the evaluation was limited and very good scientists could not show all their achievements – what counted was the so-called average efficiency in a given discipline. And in science, being average shouldn’t be enough!
In addition, even the best researcher, if he did not submit a declaration in the POLON system, did not count towards its achievements despite many years of employment in a given unit. A doctoral student who has published papers resulting from research financed by the university and constituting the basis of his doctorate does not count towards the achievements of the discipline! Such absurdities can be listed for a long time.
Moreover, having people in the discipline who posted less was a punishment for that discipline. Such a rule favored units that did not have teaching duties, and hence the best universities in Poland include mainly institutions that do not provide pre-graduate education, such as institutes of the Polish Academy of Science, specialist hospitals and individual medical universities. The surprise on this list is the A rating for the University of Technology in Katowice!
Due to the above rules, in accordance with the “Pole can do” principle, some universities changed the employment structure during the evaluation period, i.e. employees who published less were transferred to the group of teaching staff and left only a small number of people working in research or research and teaching positions .
From the perspective of the evaluation results, we probably should have done it too. However, I felt a great discomfort before doing so, because in my opinion it would be unfair to our employees, other universities and evaluation assumptions. We did not manipulate the number of employees, but showed how employment actually looked like in the period under review.
I was and I am convinced that science will defend itself and we will not improve our achievements or scientific quality with the help of artificial personnel movements, but only with good research and publications. It seems I am wrong.
This seems not only irrational but also non-trivial. Do you think the rules by which evaluation is done make sense? If Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University is the highest among Polish universities in international rankings, and in Poland it has the B + category, this discrepancy is striking.
Whether it’s ethical is a matter of judgment. This is how the game is played, what are the rules of the game. If someone has laid down such rules, some universities have used the opportunity to artificially improve their ranking. Only this is not how science is made. Due to such criteria and adjusting the number of employees to the expectations of the evaluation, science in Poland will not be any better. It is an easily measurable number of publications in the world’s best magazines.
Moreover, your own employees cannot be transferred from position to position for the evaluation results. I wonder if the universities will restore these people to their previous positions, if, for example, the rules of the game change in a year’s time? The university should have its own scientific strategy, independent of the minister’s activities. By trying to adapt the university to political climates, chaos in the life of the university is introduced. Especially since you cannot make a leap in science from year to year, it takes years for good research or research groups to develop. A good publication takes several years of work.
The rating system is unfair and unreliable. Do you think the rules of the game need to be changed?
If the assessment results are so far removed from the international rankings, then it is worth asking why. Even Minister Czarnek has repeatedly emphasized that the principles of evaluation are bad and that this is not a good ranking of disciplines, so perhaps something will change in this area, although the experience from the last evaluation does not inspire optimism.
This time, the rules of evaluation were changed during its duration. For example, it was clearly a mistake to raise the rank of some regional or university journals to the values of recognized European or world journals. The Journal Evaluation Committee, however, had nothing to say here. The ministerial list also includes periodicals balancing on the border of the so-called predatory magazines. The peer-review process in these magazines leaves much to be desired, and the publications are in fact purchased for public money.
I wonder if the ministry will decide to publish evaluation decisions – then we will see which universities and what actions they have taken to influence the evaluation results. I will strongly urge the rectors of medical universities to disclose these assessments.
You have already received the evaluation decision. Will the university appeal?
We will definitely be there, although I do not know what effects it will bring. We certainly disagree with the part of the assessment that I had the opportunity to read. Probably the number of appeals will be long. However, life will show whether someone will pay attention to it, or whether no one will even read these references, as it was until now, e.g. with comments on the so-called Act 2.0.
It is not only evaluation, because behind this evaluation there are also finances that are allocated to universities. What consequences will receiving the B + grade have for Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University?
None of us know. What algorithm for allocating funds will apply to the coming years and to what extent will this evaluation be relevant? Minister Czarnek has announced that he will change the algorithm, but no one knows how. Will the difference between A + and B + be significant? Perhaps the coloring of indicators will prove beneficial for some universities from the financial point of view?
We wrote to the Ministry of Education and Science on this matter. We asked whether the system of evaluation of Polish universities created by the ministry reflected the real potential and achievements of individual research units. We asked to explain how such a large discrepancy can be explained between the assessment of the Jagiellonian University in various international rankings and the ministerial assessment, which is currently B +. We haven’t received a reply yet.