UGM ranks first among Indonesian universities according to the Webometrics ranking. Universitas Indonesia and Institut Teknologi Bandung followed in second and third places respectively. At the world level, UGM ranks 817th.
“UGM ranks first in the Webometrics ranking version that was published in January 2017,” said Director of Information System and Resource, Widyawan, ST., M.Sc., Ph.D, on Wednesday (8/2).
Widyawan added that the criteria for the ranking are presence, impact, openness, and excellence. Presence is measured by volume of website pages, whether statistical or dynamic; impact is according to references (backlinks) from external websites; opennes is measured by the repository of a university in terms of how many rich files (pdf, doc, ppt) are available; while excellence refers to published papers in reputable, international journals.
In 2015, UGM set up a special team to work on the rankings and has conducted progammes, including the digital library in the UGM Library, which come in the form of online journals or student and lecturer papers that are accessible to all.
“UGM also facilitates and encourages work units and lecturers to use web media and internet to upload work and profiles. All lecturers and students are also facilitated with personal blogs while all faculties and departments have their own official websites,” he said.
He also said that the Webometrics rankings mean that UGM is acknowledged for giving qualified digital contents and it is a form of appreciation for UGM’s IT staff. He saw the ranking as a benchmark and a trigger for future improvement. “The result gives us the spirit to get into World Top 500 Universities,” he said.