Best Practice of Benchmarking of World’s Top Universities: Lessons for Higher Educational 

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Introduction

Paying close attention to the world’s top ten university rankings, we can find that mainly the USA and the UK universities dominate the world rankings of the best universities. Generally, most of the similar rankings are formulated based on different characteristics including a number of international students, research and development capability, employment rate of graduates, the expertise of faculty, satisfaction of students, staff, etc. However, it is obvious that universities of the United Kingdom, the United States of America and European cities including Germany are considered to offer the best quality of master’s education in the world.

Universities are considered as main suppliers of the knowledgeable workforce for the labor market. Therefore, since the demand for getting higher education is increasing due to the tough competition in the labour market, the senior management of the higher education should also identify the main objectives of the universities (Leathwood et al, 2000; Francis, 2002; Sadlak, 1978). Nowadays, there is a great demand to build and diversify the popularity of so-called “world class” universities (Jackson, 2001). The increasing importance and expansion of world-class universities can be explained in terms of their contribution to economic and social growth of the economy. This is the main reason for many countries to join the global race to establish world-class universities. In this case, it is important to define what is world Class University (Nasrallah, 2014). World-class universities are reported to attract the attention of top academicians and students and offer them the excellent teaching and learning environment with the availability of necessary facilities. As it was mentioned above, universities are mainly ranked according to their teaching excellence and research publications in both national and international level (Kettunen, 2010).

The government of Uzbekistan pays significant attention to the development of infrastructure of the higher education. The higher education in Uzbekistan consists of 4 years of study in Bachelor degree and 2 years of study in the master’s degree depending on the specialization of the program. However, the higher education of the students is considered to be completed once they obtain masters degree as well. Therefore, the current paper aims to analyze the practices of Several branches of international universities have been established by the government in order to enable the youth to get foreign education in the home country which is more convenient and affordable. However, in order to reach the level of world Class University, it is important to benchmark the practices of different developed countries education system precisely, in the context of master’s programs. The following sections will describe the higher education system of developed countries which are considered as a home for top-ranked universities in the world. This research has been carried out to learn lessons the performance indicators to find their application in the context of higher education institutions in Uzbekistan.

2. Literature Review on the Best Performing Higher Education Systems

2.1 German Higher Education System

Recently the number of international students studying for master’s degree in Germany has increased significantly. More than 12% of students studying for master’s in German universities are coming from abroad, and there are several reasons, which can be used to explain their choice of Germany as their top study destinations (Drechsler, 1991). These reasons include a diversity of study programs, tuition-free universities, top class degree recognised all over the world and affordable living expenses.

The higher education including masters program is offered in three types of institutions in Germany. They include:

  • Universitäten (Universities) which include different types of specialized institutions and offer a wide range of academic specializations. According to German traditions, universities are mainly focused on conducting research and majority of the university programs are research oriented (El-Khawas,1990).
  • Fachhochschulen (University of Applied Sciences) mainly focus on technical disciplines, engineering, business, design and related areas. The main purpose of university of applied sciences includes the practical application of theoretical knowledge. Therefore, most of the course requirements require students to conduct fieldwork and internships in real companies which enables the students to maintain their acquired knowledge(El-Khawas,1990).
  • Kunst- und Musikhochschulen (Universities of Art/Music) provide artistic careers and fine arts careers. Precisely, the students will acquire knowledge and necessary experience in directing, production, writing in theatre and filmmaking. Moreover, they also provide knowledge in design areas, architecture, media and communication (El-Khawas,1990).

Higher education systems in Germany are either state or state-recognized. Therefore, all the types of institutions are subject to German Higher Education system legislation.

According to De Rudder (1994), Master’s degree programmes offered in Germany usually last between 1 to 2 years. Master studies can be differentiated by the programmes and can be either “research-oriented” or “practice-oriented”. Students who are willing to finish masters successfully are required to submit the thesis. Masters programmes are offered in many disciplines including Master of Arts (M.A), Master of Science (M.S), Master of Engineering (M. Eng), Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A), Master of Music (M.Mus), Master of Education (M, Edu).

The grading scheme of  Master’s programs in German universities consist of five levels including “Sehr Gut” (1) = Very Good; “Gut” (2) = Good; “Befriedigend” (3) = Satisfactory; “Ausreichend” (4) = Sufficient; “Nichtausreichend” (5) = Non-Sufficient/Fail. The minimum passing grade  for master’s is “Ausreichend” (4) (De Rudder, 1994).

2.2 Higher Education System in the United States of America

The USA is known to offer excellent institutes, master’s programs and the US universities are ranked among the top programs all over the world. Moreover, students studying in the USA for master’s degree are exposed to a cultural diversity of different nationalities since most of the universities try to offer more places for international students in order to diversify their campus (McClure, 2007). Furthermore, the government provides support for international students in order to enhance international student’s learning experience in the USA. For example, US Government is adopting several laws in order to increase employment opportunities of the international student after their graduation (Weisskopf, 2001). Moreover, flexible study programs and advanced academic environment are considered as main reasons which attract the attention of international students (Sims,1969).

According to Education USA (2016), there are five types of degrees which exist in America. They include two-year colleges (also known as community colleges) and a small number of four-year colleges which provide associate degrees for their graduates. The association degree is usually granted after finishing the study of 60 credits. There are two main ways through which associate degrees can be useful. Firstly, students can continue their careers by being involved in vocational training or they will have a chance to study for bachelor’s degree. In the USA, bachelor’s degree is considered as the most important type of degree which is necessary for students to get their dream jobs or to further pursue their master’s degree. There are three main type of graduate degrees exist in graduate level in the USA education system (Hobgood,  1964):

  • The master’s degree is regarded as the most common type of graduate degree which is pursued in the United States. According to the recent studies provide by the US Bureau of higher education system, 75% of students are enrolled into master programs in different fields. The most common areas of specialization is considered as business and management, education, medicine and information systems. The masters programmes offered in the US may have either theoretical or practical focus. In order to get master’s degree, students may be required to pass either exam or to undertake a final The master’s degree aims to prepare the students to advanced level of career and to doctoral level as well.
  • Another type of most common type of degrees in the USA can be considered as the professional degree.
  • The doctoral degree is regarded as the highest academic degree in the USA and it indicates that holders of doctoral level can conduct independent scientific research on their own. The D, or doctor of philosophy, is regarded as the most common type of doctoral degree which is awarded for students who successfully finished their doctoral degrees. Besides, Ph.D, doctor of education also known as (Ed.D) is also common in USA.

2.3 Higher Education in the UK

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, higher education is regarded as institutions which are independent, self-governing bodies which are responsible for their own teaching, research and scholarship. The higher education is Royal Charter, and most of these institutions established in these countries are partly funded by the government. Different types of institutions including universities and university colleges provide higher education. Besides that, a number of publicly designed and autonomous institutions also provide higher education. All of these institutions have decision power which students to admit and which staff member to appoint as it is in the case of universities. Moreover, all institutions are subject to follow the same regulatory quality assurance and funding (Educationuk.org, 2016)

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