USM ascends to highest Webometrics ranking in 5 years — WRWU

The University of Southern Mindanao (USM) registered its highest ranking in 5 years by placing at Rank 16 among 366 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the Philippines according to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities (WRWU) July 2022 edition.

USM in 2018 was at Rank 91. In 2019, it leaped 47 notches higher at Rank 44. However, it slipped 14 spots in 2020 at Rank 60. In 2021, USM climbed 34 steps up at Rank 26. And now 2022, it advanced 10 steps higher at Rank 16--the highest ranking USM garnered in 5 years.

Webometrics placed USM at Rank 16 in the Philippines and Rank 5353 in the world. For the Impact, USM is ranked at 7829 (Rank 21). While for the Openness, USM is at 5726 (Rank 27) and for the Excellence, USM is at 5776 (Rank 28).

What is Webometrics?

Webometrics is the largest academic ranking of HEIs. The ranking is built from publicly available web data, combining the variables into a composite indicator, and with a true global coverage.

According to its website (www. webometrics.info), WRWU is an initiative of the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), the largest public research body in Spain among the first basic research organizations in Europe.

The Cybermetrics Lab, part of the CSIC, is devoted to the quantitative analysis of the Internet and Web contents specially those related to the processes of generation and scholarly communication of scientific knowledge. This is a new emerging discipline that has been called Cybermetrics or Webometrics.

What indicators does Webometrics use?

The ranking is “based on a composite indicator that assesses a website’s visibility and activity. Visibility is evaluated through a count of the external links that a university web domain receives from third parties. These data indicate the university’s “conventional prestige, academic performance, the value of information, and usefulness of services.”

There are three indicators Webometrics looks into: 1) Visibility, 2) Transparency or Openness, and 4) Excellence or Scholar.

Impact Indicator accounts for 50% of the consideration taken. This refers to the web contents impact and the number of external networks linking to the institution’s webpages. Transparency Indicator (or openness) constitutes 10% which refers to top cited researchers and number of citations from Google Scholar profiles. Lastly, the Excellence Indicator (or excellence) comprises 40% which refers to the top cited papers and number of papers among the top 10% most cited in each one of 27 disciplines of the full database.

Mindanao SUCs Ranked

USM is the fourth university from Mindanao to enter the Top 20 next to MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology (Rank 5), MSU-Marawi (Rank 9), and Central Mindanao University (Rank 10).

5 MSU-Iligan Instittute of Technology

9 MSU-Marawi

10

111 Surigao State College of Technology

117 Liceo de Cagayan University

128 Bukidnon State University

150 Davao del Norte State College

161 Misamis University

163 MSU-Naawan

167 Capitol University

168 Holy Cross of Davao College

171 La Salle University Ozamiz

175 Jose Rizal Memorial State University

178 Davao Medical School Foundation

179 Notre Dame of Marbel University

181 Surigao del Sur State University

189 Jose Maria College

191 Notre Dame of Dadiangas University

197 Davao Doctors College

199 Cotabato Foundation College of Science and Technology

205 Father Saturnino Urios University

213 Mountain View College Philippines

223 St. Paul University Surigao

231 Sultan Kudarat State University

235 Zamboanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology

238 Mindanao State University

242 Brokenshire College

262 Notre Dame University Cotabato

266 Iligan Computer Institute

280 Southern Philippines Agri Business and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology

289 Iligan Medical Center College

299 Dipolog Medical Center College Foundation

302 Agusan Del Sur College

305 Notre Dame of Kidapawan College

312 MSU-Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography

321 Basilan State College

323 DMMA College of Southern Philippines

332 Davao del Sur State College

361 Holy Child Colleges of Butuan

363 Zamboanga Peninsula Polytechnic State University

365 Gingoog City Colleges

This recent ranking mirrors the collective efforts by the USM Administration, faculty, and staff in improving the research capabilities and online presence of the university.

BAEL-USM bags int’l awards in 3rd Global Cultural Exchange

Ten students from the Bachelor of Arts in English Language (BAEL) program took home three recognitions from the 3rd Online Global Cultural Exchange (OGCE) 2022 organized by the Universitas Islam Sultan Agung (UNISSULA), Indonesia on October 24-28, 2022.

Philip John Tabada and Zulpikar Sawa won 2nd Best Paper for the Collaborative Group Project while Bonetta Undalayan and Daryl Mae Sauquillo clinched the 3rd Best Paper also from the same category.

Moreover, BAEL-USM was also awarded 2nd Place for the Best Cultural Exhibition which aimed to showcase the culture of Mindanao through an audio-visual presentation.

“We’re so grateful to be part of this program. To represent USM and the Department of English Language and Literature (DELL) in this event is definitely a proud moment for us. We will be bringing with us the lessons we learned from OGCE 2022,” Jonalyn Cadiz said in an interview.

BAEL-USM delegation was composed of ten AB English Language students from the College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS), namely: Samantha Kaye Politico, Jonalyn Cadiz, Kyla Calibadan, Franz Castro, Zulpikar Sawa, Philip John Tabada, Daryl Mae Sauquillo, Bonetta Undalayan, Raheema Undong, and Madzna Ampat. The team was mentored by Prof. Lloyd Anton Von Colita.

DELL Chair Dr. Orfelina Ajero thanked CASS Dean Prof. Marcos Monderin for tapping the BAEL students for this event. “We thank our active CASS Dean Prof. Monderin for believing in our AB English Language students. If it were not for him, our students would have not experienced this and won awards for CASS and USM,” said Dr. Ajero.

The event which was conducted via Zoom conferencing is the cultural exchange program organized by UNISSULA for international university students. This program is intended to give opportunities for students to exchange their culture, collaborate with people with different backgrounds, and build a better understanding of how they see people from different cultures. OGCE program will lead the students to have a broader perspective how they see the world and treat people from other cultures.

A total of 91 college students from 9 international universities participated in the said event: Universiti Teknologi Mara, University College ATAI, Superior University, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Daffodil International University, Biliran Province State University, University of Southern Mindanao, and the host Universitas Islam Sultan Agung.