# IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence

IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence (IREG Observatory) is an international nonprofit organisation created in 2009 consisting of universities, ranking organisations and third-party organisations associated with academics and university ranking. The organisation's secretariat is based in Warsaw, Poland.
Also, the organisation is responsible for awarding organisations with the IREG Ranking Seal of Approval acknowledging the recipient's engagement and initiatives in relation to university ranking.

## Foundation and purpose

IREG Observatory was first founded in Warsaw, Poland in 2002 and was in 2009 transformed into the non-profit organisation, IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence, it is today. Its foundation was a result of a collaborative initiative between the UNESCO European Centre for Higher Education (UNESCO-CEPES) and a broad variety of ranking experts from different international ranking organisations.
The purpose of creating the International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) was to create a specialised community consisting of ranking analysts and experts to process a variety of issues and topics related to international university ranking.
In June 2015 it held a conference on Rankings by Subject which was considered significant.

## Executive Committee

| Position | Name | Affiliated Organisation / Institution | Country of Residence |
| IREG President | Waldemar Siwinski | Founder Perspektywy Education Foundation | Poland |
| IREG Vice President | Gero Federkeil | Head of International Rankings at CHE Centre for Higher Education, Managing Director of U-Multirank | Germany |
| Executive Committee Member | Birte Hornemann | Aalborg University | Denmark |
| Executive Committee Member | Habib M. Fardoun | Excellence Consulting for Education] | Spain |
| Executive Committee Member | Robert J. Morse | U.S. News & World Report | United States |
| Executive Committee Member | Burkitbayev Mukhambetkali | Professor at Al Farabi University in Almaty | Kazakhstan |
| Executive Committee Member | Ying Cheng | CEO & Co-Founder at Shanghai Ranking Consultancy | China |
| Executive Committee Member | Gyorgy Fabri | Professor at Eötvös Loránd University | Hungary |

## Initiatives

IREG Ranking Seal of Approval
- The organisation is responsible for awarding organisations with the IREG Ranking Seal of Approval acknowledging the recipient's engagement and initiatives in relation to university ranking.
Berlin Principles on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions.
- The Berlin principles is list of 16 principles that has been accepted as being indicators of what defines 'good' ranking and what topics should be considered in relation to ranking.
IREG Inventory of National Rankings
- The list on national rankings is an initiative which has the purpose of gathering and displaying various rankings in order to generate easy access to ranking information.
IREG List of International Academic Awards
- This list has been composed to function as a comprehensive map of international academic awards and rank these compared to one another.
IREG Guidelines for Stakeholders of Academic Rankings
- These Guidelines have been established to improve quality, assure reliability of information, and give the users of International rankings functionality and trustworthiness in term of gathering information on the topic. Furthermore, these Guidelines are supplemented by the findings of the other IREG initiatives in order to have a broad and comprehensive framework.

## Member organisations and institutions

| Name of Institution / Organisation | Country | Location |
| Aalborg University | Denmark | Aalborg, Denmark |
| Agency for Science and Higher Education | Croatia | Zagreb, Croatia |
| Al-Farabi Kazakh National University | Kazakhstan | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna | Italy | Bologna, Italy |
| Applied Science University (Bahrain) | Bahrain | Sitra, Bahrain |
| Atilim University | Turkey | Ankara, Turkey |
| Atyrau State University | Kazakhstan | Astana, Kazakhstan |
| Beijing University of Technology | China | Beijing, China |
| Centre for Higher Education | Germany | Gütersloh, Germany |
| CASEE - Hangzhou Dianzi University | China | Zhejiang, China |
| Eötvös Loránd University | Hungary | Budapest, Hungary |
| Erciyes University | Turkey | Kayseri, Turkey |
| Gdańsk University of Technology | Poland | Gdańsk, Poland |
| Hasselt University | Belgium | Hasselt, Belgium |
| Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating | Kazakhstan | Astana, Kazakhstan |
| IQAA - Independent Agency for Quality Assurance in Education | Kazakhstan | Astana, Kazakhstan |
| Jagiellonian University | Poland | Kraków, Poland |
| Kabardino-Balkarian State University | Russia | Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia |
| Kazakh National Agrarian University | Kazakhstan | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| Kazan Federal University | Russia | Tatarstan, Russia |
| King Abdulaziz University | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
| King Saud University | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Kozminski University | Poland | Warsaw, Poland |
| Kuwait University | Kuwait | Kuwait City, Kuwait |
| L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University | Kazakhstan | Astana, Kazakhstan |
| N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod | Russia | Nizhny Novgorod, Russia |
| Moscow State University | Russia | Moscow, Russia |
| Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu | Romania | Sibiu, Romania |
| Lund University | Sweden | Lund, Sweden |
| MGIMO - Moscow State Institute of International Relations | Russia | Moscow, Russia |
| Nab'a Al-Hayat Foundation for Medical Sciences and Health Care | Iraq | Najaf, Iraq |
| National Center of Public Accreditation | Russia | Mari El Republic, Russia |
| National Research Nuclear University MEPhI | Russia | Moscow, Russia |
| National University of Political Studies and Public Administration | Romania | Bucharest, Romania |
| Perspektywy Education Foundation | Poland | Warsaw, Poland |
| Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University | Saudi Arabia | Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia |
| Qatar University | Qatar | Doha, Qatar |
| QS World University Rankings | United Kingdom | London, United Kingdom |
| RAEX Group | Russia | Moscow, Russia |
| RUDN University | Russia | Moscow, Russia |
| Russian New University | Russia | Moscow, Russia |
| Scientific Research Institute of Applied Information Technologies | Ukraine | Kyiv, Ukraine |
| Sejong University | South Korea | Seoul, South Korea |
| SGH Warsaw School of Economics | Poland | Warsaw, Poland |
| Shanghai Ranking Consultancy | China | Shanghai, China |
| Silesian University of Technology | Poland | Gliwice, Poland |
| Sumy State University | Ukraine | Sumy, Ukraine |
| The Illuminate Consulting Group | United States | San Carlos, California, United States |
| University of Indonesia | Indonesia | Depok, Indonesia |
| University of Bucharest | Romania | Bucharest, Romania |
| University for Business and Technology | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
| University of Jeddah | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
| University of Maribor | Slovenia | Maribor, Slovenia |
| University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș | Romania | Târgu Mureș, Romania |
| University of Navarra | Spain | Navarre, Spain |
| University of Ulsan | South Korea | Ulsan, South Korea |
| U.S. News & World Report | United States | New York City, New York, United States |
| Vistula University | Poland | Warsaw, Poland |
| Warsaw University of Technology | Poland | Warsaw, Poland |
| Yeditepe University | Turkey | Istanbul, Turkey |