Global rankings have been a stable phenomenon for over 20 years, major global rankings kept their methodology stable and still rely mainly on research and reputation. However, rankings are now under pressure as the world has faced tremendous global challenges. The climate crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, all of which impact higher education. University rankings do not exist in a vacuum; to be meaningful, they need to reflect the changes in higher education on a global as well as regional scale.

On April 27-28, 2023, "Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers" National Research University hosted the International Conference on "Rankings and University International Exposure," organized by IREG Observatory Academics Rankings, which is considered an institutional non-profit association of ranking organizations, universities and other bodies interested in university rankings and academic excellence.

The guests of the conference were the rectors of foreign higher educational institutions, scientists of higher educational institutions from more than 40 countries, heads and experts of international organizations, as well as authorities, leading scientists of National Research University “TIIAME” and rectors and representatives of higher educational institutions of our republic. The total number of participants were 250 people, and 101 of them were foreign scientists and experts from more than 45countries.  It is important to suggest that the organizers of the conference were IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Uzbekistan,“Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers” National Research University and Scientific Research Publishing Elsevier, the Netherlands.  

The purpose of the" IREG 2023 "conference was to serve as a forum for the purpose of the IREG 2023 conference - to discuss the reaction of ratings to the global changes highlighted above. The capabilities of the rankings to  identify indicators and information aimed at social problems and key global issues, including the efforts of Central Asian universities to improve their position in the global system of Higher Education were discussed during the conference.

The participants of the conference were rectors of higher education system and institutions of the United States, Belgium, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Indonesia, Spain, Levan, Libya, Netherlands, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, various international organizations, including international ranging agencies, in particular the world's most prestigious international ranking agencies: QS World University Rankings, Shanghai Ranking, Times Higher Education (the World University Ranking), Webometrics Rankings, USN Global University Rankings, and more than 30 lectures were given by the heads and specialists of the Elsevier company in such areas as the role of the University in ensuring global Sustainable Development, modern trends in science and the main difficulties facing scientists, world rankings in a difficult period, problems of geopolitical changes in world rankings and adaptation to social goals. On the basis of open and meaningful discussions on the listed problems, new ideas and approaches to their solution were proposed.

     Press Service of National Research University “TIIAME”