Website performance analysis in relation to the Visibility indicator of the Webometrics ranking: case study TOP 5 universities from the Republic of Moldova & Romania

Abstract

The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities periodically brings to the attention of mass media, but also to the society of the Republic of Moldova, information relevant for future students regarding the positions of higher education institutions in the country. A website is simply a prerequisite of online existence for a university. Most of the time, the university’s webpage is the place where one can present detailed information about institution’s activity, educational services provided, research activity, etc., this being the official source of information for future students, future graduates, but also university partners. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the webpages of the TOP 5 universities ranked by Webometrics from the Republic of Moldova and Romania, in terms of the visibility indicator of this university ranking. The paper has the task to make a comparative evaluation of the universities’ webpages so that the conclusions formulated later could contribute to the improvement of the Moldovan universities’ positions in the Impact Rank section of the Webometrics Ranking of World’s Universities.