Uac, 2nd in French-speaking West Africa

2023-08-27 23:52:24

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Professor Félicien Avlessi, Rector of the AUc

The University of Abomey-Calavi is the second best university in French-speaking West Africa according to the ranking of SCIMAGO Institutions Ranking, an institution recognized by UNESCO and whose main task is to compare the position in the ranking institutions within the same country while respecting the principle of equity. Unlike uniRank’s non-academic base ranking [selon les propres termes de l’institution] relayed last week, the SCIMAGO ranking is very professional and is based on scientific bases recommended to universities, including research, innovation and service to the community. The 2023 edition of this personalized ranking did indeed take into account the combination of these three sets of indicators.

For the 2023 SCIMAGO ranking, the University of Abomey-Calavi (created in 1970) is doing well with the 151stspot on 1225 listed higher education institutions. This ranking positions UAC before Félix Houphouët Boigny University in Abidjan (created in 1958, 152nd place) and after Cheick Anta Diop University in Dakar (created in 1957, 86th place). This means that in French-speaking West Africa, the University of Abomey-Calavi occupies second place. The youngest among these three great universities in Africa, it fights with the means available to shine in the ranks of the most successful universities. In a disaggregated way according to the ranking, the University of Abomey-Calavi occupies the 72nd position in terms of research; 89th place in innovation and 49th in service to the community out of the 1225 listed.

SCIMAGO Institutions Ranking uses for its work SIR Globe, a 3D tool for geo-analysis of research institutions and split counting to calculate research metrics when authors have more than one institutional affiliation. Thanks to its analysis by sector and by country, SCIMAGO clearly identifies the best universities and research institutions. The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) is a ranking of academic and research-related institutions ranked according to a composite indicator that combines three sets of different indicators based on research performance, innovation output and the societal impact measured by their visibility on the web. The data collected provides an overview of scientific performance over the past few years. Research ranking refers to the volume, impact and quality of the institution’s research output. The innovation ranking is calculated based on the number of patent applications the institution has made and the citations its research results receive in patents. Finally, the societal ranking is based on the number of pages on the institution’s website and the number of backlinks and mentions in social networks.

According to SCIMAGO Institutions Ranking, in the 2023 edition, the way of numbering the ranks of institutions in the ranking has changed. The new numbering system retains the same numerical ranks (positions) when institutions are tied in the value of their indicator, and skips as many ranks as institutions are tied. In this way, the number of ranks approximately coincides with the number of institutions. This change has been applied retrospectively to previous editions to allow realistic comparison and observation of the evolution of institutions over time. The institution uses, in its approach, all types of documents and databases including Scopus, with the exception of retracted documents, erratums and pre-publications. For your information, Scopus is an intelligent and connected database that uniquely combines a comprehensive citation and abstract database with expert-reviewed and selected content, with enriched data and related scientific literature in a wide variety of disciplines. . Scopus helps discover relevant and benchmark research, identify experts and provide access to reliable data, indicators and analytical tools.

About ten months ago, in October 2022, UAC was ranked 56th out of the 100 best universities in Africa by Edurank.

It should be recognized that apart from the objective criteria for assessing the performance of universities, the institutions that devote themselves to these rankings – academic or non-academic – also rely on the visibility of higher education institutions through the digital communication platforms. In this regard, the University of Abomey-Calavi, present on Youtube, Twitter and Facebook, reserves the right to gradually join social networks, taking into account the requirements of the latter. It takes into account its means for communication and visibility on the web. Despite everything, the visibility of a higher education institution does not come by itself. It is often recommended that teacher-researchers regularly publish their scientific productions in world-renowned databases and patent their innovations. [qui ne manquent pas du tout] to make themselves more visible. When all these aspects have been mentioned, it is also appropriate to ask what means the academics and researchers of Benin in general and those of the UAC in particular have at their disposal to impact research, make the university more competitive and contribute substantially to the areas of development of the country. In other words, it is not enough to be moved or to rejoice in the face of a ranking, whatever its nature. Upstream, the investment must be substantial as much as the scientific production effort in order to guarantee the enviable positions of the UAC.

CL