The Jet.dev team implemented a solution supporting the ongoing digital transformation of education in Ukraine. In collaboration with Poltava V. G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University, we developed a digital tool for calculating research activity ratings of academic staff.
A Digital Platform for Tracking Academic Activity in Higher Education
Key Results
300+
academic staff members submitted the research activities
30,000+
research activities processed during the first two years
50%
increase in institutional rating score, driven by process transparency and simplification
About PNPU
Poltava V. G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University is one of Ukraine’s oldest pedagogical universities. Today it serves as a major educational and research hub in the Poltava region, bringing together thousands of students and a large academic community.
The university offers a wide range of programs across education, humanities, natural sciences, psychology, and social disciplines. With a strong academic tradition and a focus on innovation, the institution continuously works to modernize its educational and administrative processes.
Industry: Higher Education
Founded: 1914
Students: 6000+
Academic staff: ~300
The Challenge
Calculating performance ratings of academic staff is a requirement of Ukrainian higher education regulations. These ratings are used to evaluate the effectiveness of research activities both at the level of individual researchers and the institution as a whole.
Each year, academic staff of a single university submits more than 10,000 research activities for ratings. Most of these submissions include supporting documents and additional media materials.
After submission, all data must be carefully reviewed by managers, and can be returned for corrections. Once the activity is approved, rating points are assigned to the researcher.
Managing this process manually is extremely complex and requires significant human effort.
To address this challenge, Poltava V. G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University initiated the development of a digital tool that would allow the institution to collect research data efficiently, streamline verification workflows, securely store documentation, and automate the calculation of rating scores.
The Solution
To simplify and automate the process, we developed Rating UA.Education - a digital platform built on Drupal for managing and calculating academic performance ratings in higher education institutions.
Research activity tracking
Faculty members can easily add information about their research activities through structured digital forms. The system allows users to edit entries, attach supporting documents, and submit their work for review.
ORCID integration
To simplify the submission of scientific publications, the platform integrates with the ORCID registry. After adding their ORCID iD to the user profile, researchers can automatically retrieve publication data from their ORCID records.
The system notifies users about newly detected publications and allows them to quickly create activity entries with pre-filled publication data, significantly reducing manual work.
Moderation and verification
Submitted activities are reviewed by managers who verify the information and approve or reject submissions. If revisions are required, the system returns the entry to the author for corrections. Digital format makes it easy to update and refine the data.
Automated scoring and rankings
Once approved, the system automatically calculates rating points according to predefined evaluation criteria. The platform updates individual rankings and allows users to track their scores and positions in real time.
Flexible evaluation configuration
Administrators can manage the rating criteria by editing categories, activity types, and scoring values. When scoring rules change, the system automatically recalculates ratings for approved activities.
As a result, Rating UA.Education significantly reduces administrative workload, minimizes calculation errors, and ensures reliable storage of academic activity data.
Automated workflow for academic activity management and real-time rating updates.
Researcher profile page displaying verified activities included in the academic rating.
The Achievements
According to statistics prepared by the university, the platform is actively used by the academic community and processes large volumes of research activity data.
Impact in numbers
- 30,000+ research activities processed during the first two years
- 44.7 GB of supporting documents uploaded by users to verify their academic achievements
- 50% increase in the university’s total research activity rating score within one year.
Platform Benefits for Universities
Simple Data Management
The centralized approach simplifies data administration, improves accessibility, and makes it easier to analyze research performance across departments.
Transparent Evaluation Process
The platform introduces a clear and structured moderation workflow, ensuring that all research activities are reviewed and evaluated according to consistent criteria.
Flexible Evaluation Criteria
Institutions can configure rating categories, scoring rules, and activity types to align with their internal policies, making the platform adaptable to different evaluation models.
Reduced Administrative Workload
Automated scoring and digital submission workflows significantly reduce manual administrative tasks for both academic staff and university administrators, and prevent human errors.
Secure Data Storage
The system is designed to handle large volumes of research records and supporting documentation while ensuring secure storage and controlled access to sensitive academic data.
Public Access to Rating Results
The platform supports public access to academic rating results, allowing universities to publish rankings of academic staff in compliance with national higher education regulations.
Customer's Feedback
The system made the calculation of academic rating scores transparent, clear, and manageable for both faculty and administration. After two years, the university achieved a +50% increase in its total rating score without expanding staff, largely due to more comprehensive tracking of research activities. The platform significantly improved researcher engagement, as faculty can now not only register their work, but also track their scores. As a result, what was "once a yearly reporting exercise" has become a continuously monitored and actively managed process.
Technologies Used
Why Drupal?
Drupal is a proven open-source platform widely used in higher education. Many universities, including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Georgetown University, use Drupal to support complex digital platforms and institutional workflows.
For this project, Drupal was a strong fit because it can manage structured data, user roles, permissions, and custom workflows - all essential for an academic rating system.
Its open-source nature also gives universities more control over their platform and data. They are not locked into a single vendor or licensing model, which makes the solution more secure and sustainable over the long term.
Drupal also helps reduce development time and costs. Many standard features are already available through existing modules, so the team could focus on customizing the platform for the university’s specific research and rating processes instead of building everything from scratch.
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