MODELLING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEMAND FOR EDUCATIONAL SERVICES AND THE INSTITUTION'S POSITION IN THE WEBOMETRICS RANKING OF WORLD UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

The article is devoted to studying the dependence of the demand for educational services of institutions of higher education (IHE) by applicants during the admission campaign on the position of the IHE in the international Webometrics Ranking of World Universities. Ukrainian universities have embarked on a path of reforms aimed at providing European-level educational services in line with the current needs of the economy and society, aware of the need for education in the context of global challenges and military aggression by the Russian Federation, and the task of training a new generation of specialists capable of ensuring Ukraine's post-war recovery. At the same time, increased migration to safer regions and countries has exposed Ukrainian institutions of higher education to new threats – the loss of academic staff, students and potential applicants. Under these conditions, the ability of both higher education management and the higher education system as a whole to implement the necessary short and long-term transformations to achieve an appropriate level of competitiveness in the domestic and global education market will be crucial to maintaining the potential of the Ukrainian higher education system. Against this background, it is stated that competitiveness rankings, which reflect the effectiveness of the educational and research activities of universities, serve at the same time as a guide for applicants when choosing a profession and a higher education institution to pursue it. Systematic approach, generalization, analysis, synthesis, correlation and regression analysis, modelling are the research methods used in this paper. The article presents the results of analysis of Ukrainian universities' rankings in QS, TOP-200 Ukraine, British agency Times Higher Education's ranking, Webometrics Ranking of World's Universities, Scopus. With the help of correlation and regression analysis and IBM SPSS Statistics software, the author has demonstrated the existence of a close relationship between the number of applications to higher education institutions and the ranking positions of the universities studied in the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities. For the samples of 2018 and 2023, it has been established that the variation in the number of applications submitted by applicants depends on the variation in their positions in the Webometrics Ranking of World's Universities. Conclusions on the possibilities of using the developed analytical model of communication are drawn based on the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of this ranking.