Guardian UK University Ranking

This is the latest UK University Guide 2012 by Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2011/may/17/university-league-table-2012 . It is interesting to note how some post 92 universities such as Oxford Brookes and Sunderland are ranked better than traditional universities such as Liverpool University and Bradford. Will give more comments on this later.

Increasing your H-index overnight?

The recent article by Jacso titled "Google Scholar duped and deduped- the aura of "robometrics" published in Online Information Review, Vol 35 No. 1 presented an interesting insight as to why H-index, in particular the one computed by Google Scholar, is not a reliable tool. Google Scholar and tool such as those by Anne-Wil Harzing's Publish or Perish are used by some academics and universities as a tool for calculating their research impact. However, Jasco showed an interesting case whereby a researcher created a fake author – Antkare I., and generated 100 "fake" papers using SciGen (a software that generates fake computer science manuscripts using all the IT technical jargons to make the paper look as if they are genuine, the interesting thing is that some of these papers were actually accepted by conference!). Anyway, these fake papers in turn cited each other's paper. I guess you know the outcome, within few months, once these papers and citations were captured by Google scholar, and Harzing's Publish or Perish which is based on Google Scholar, the fake authors Antkare received a total citations of 9626, thus giving him the computer scientist with the 2^nd highest number of citations! So for those universities that based their promotions on google scholar, think twice.

H-index anyone?

As part of the games to improve universities ranking, many university administrators are starting to look at the H-Index. According to my reliable source Wikipedia, The h-index "is an index that attempts to measure both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar. The index is based on the set of the scientist's most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other people's publications". According to a recent report, universities in Singapore use H-index to determine the appointments of professors in certain discipline.

However, H-index is a dangerous tool. This is reflected in the recent surprise ranking of Alexandria University, which is ranked top 200 in the world, whereby its professor Mohamed El Naschie is accused to have manipulated his citations. More can be found here on how H-index might not be a trustworthy tool for measuring a scientist's actual impact: http://francisworldinsideout.wordpress.com/

Fake Degree in Malaysia

• 
   
• I am not sure if using fake titles is considered a crime in Malaysia. However, what if the title misleads the public? Richard Li claimed that he graduated from Stanford years ago, and when it was found that he did not graduate from Stanford, it create quite a big hoo-ha. So does this apply to only famous people?
  
• 
   
• Mr. Peter Yee claimed that he has a DBA from Golden State university, and the "Dr" title was given for his major in Investment Management. Now he is providing property advice on The Star, and of course he runs workshops in Malaysia as well. Unfortunately, Golden State University is a degree mill, and there is no such actual university. Please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_State_University or http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/unaccredited.aspx
  

  
  

  Q&A: Will I have to use years of rental income to cover initial repairs? | StarProperty Malaysia
  

  Now what is ironic is that in 2009, the Star had an article "unmasking degree mill and bogus varsities" and here they are, having this guy with a fake DBA providing advice to the readers. Well done The Star, well done Star Education Fund. Malaysia boleh.
  

UK universities at risk?

With the cut in subsidies, many UK universities seem to be at a high risk of being closed down. The recent report from The University and College Union (UCU) showed that at least a third of the 130 universities in the UK are at risks. More at http://www.ucu.org.uk/media/pdf/t/a/ucu_universitiesatrisk_dec10.pdf

Will this influence students' choice in selecting which British universities to pursue their studies?

Is it worthwhile to do a PhD?

Well , the Economist seems to think that it isn't. They have an interesting article that probably kills the aspiring young graduates' hope of pursuing a PhD

http://www.economist.com/node/17723223

Top universities in Malaysia

The Malaysian government came up with the SETARA rating which "ranked" universities into 6 tiers , 1 – weak and 6 – Outstanding. It is interesting to note that some universities such as Taylor's University, Sunway University College are ranked in the same tier with University Malaya. This suggests that the oldest university in Malaysia either has quality as bad as private institutions, or private institutions such as Sunway have excellent quality as University Malaya, or the rating is, well, rubbish http://www.mqa.gov.my/setara09/result_en.cfm

What interest me the most is some of the universities included in the list. For example, Management and Science University is ranked in tier 5 as excellent. I never knew how good this university is, but one thing for sure, it does not belong in the same league with University Malaya, University Science Malaysia, Monash Malaysia, or even Sunway and Taylor's. What interest me the most is the lack of information being provided by the university website as well http://www.msu.edu.my/ I mean if you click on the link, you can't find any profiles of their academicians. You will not be able to see the lists of publications by their professors, how many of them hold PhD, how many of them are professors etc. Compare this with University Malaya and Multimedia University, where this information are shown on their websites.

The reason why I am interested to look at their profiles are due to the types of IT degrees being offered :

http://www.msu.edu.my/v6/fise/fise.php

They have forensic computing, IS auditing, mobile and wireless technology etc. These are quite specialized degrees and you will need capable people to develop and deliver these courses. What concern me is that does the university has such people? I am not sure as I can't see it from their website.

Another thing that bothers me is that when I click on their computer forensic programme link, the following information is being provided:

Offering of this program aims at:

 

a.to provide students with a full understanding of current and developing computer forensic technologies.

b.to facilitate students in the development of expertise in areas of direct and complementary relevance to gaining employment.

c.to encourage students to become autonomous learners

d.to provide students with an understanding of current computer forensic research issues.

e.to develop students' analytical, creative, problem-solving and evaluation skills.

f.to provide a platform for career development, innovation and/or postgraduate student.

 

I mean look at how poorly written are the objectives. "Understanding and developing computer forensic technologies"? " facilitate students in the development of expertise in areas of direct and complementary relevance to gaining employment."

The degrees proposed by MSU sounds fancy, but I am not sure what is the process involved in developing these courses. Is it developed by some lecturers in their faculties, whereby they just merged some subjects, add/adapt some subjects from books, websites etc?

As an IT researcher, I am really concern when university offers this sort of courses, as we are not sure are they being fair to the students, and are they really producing competent graduates in these specialized areas.