Template talk:Infobox university/Archive 8

This is an archive of past discussions about Template:Infobox university. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Is male-to-female ratio a parameter worth including? Arbitrarily0 ^(talk) 04:02, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

No, I doubt. This would be interesting for a female-only university. ^^ mabdul 10:08, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

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The subheading 'Academic staff' is wikilinked to 'Faculty (teaching staff)', which itself is a redirect to Faculty (academic staff). The meaning of the heading on its own is clear - no link is needed to explain it. In addition, by introducing the notion of Faculty, whose meaning differs within the English-speaking world, it just creates confusion. Therefore I request the term 'Academic staff' should be unlinked. Colonies Chris (talk) 09:02, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

 Done. What's more, the linked article was nothing but an unreferenced dictionary def, so I've soft redirected it to Wiktionary. Chris Cunningham (user:thumperward) (talk) 13:07, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Colonies Chris (talk) 21:29, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

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Since there's already a website category, can this be updated to include links to social media sites? At least Facebook/Twitter?

128.84.155.26 (talk) 16:59, 13 June 2012 (UTC)Brian

I am opposed to such a change. This is an encyclopedia, not a directory of links. A link to the official webpage is sufficient. ElKevbo (talk) 17:22, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

Agreed. I don't think we need to add links to anything other than the institution's official website. Esrever ^(klaT) 17:29, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

Not done: Declined per lack of consensus. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 20:03, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

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Rector is a dab page. Please change the link of label20 to Rector (academia). --Quest for Truth (talk) 12:34, 18 June 2012 (UTC)

Done --Redrose64 (talk) 14:23, 18 June 2012 (UTC)

I propose we add a date qualifier to the endowment by adding a new "endowment_year" field. I've recently noticed that the endowment figures on some pages are pretty out of date (three years old), when better information is clearly available. See, Hope College, Calvin College. Some places have "as of" dates added ad hoc to the end of the figure (Yale University). Some have up to date information, but no date available without clicking through to the primary source. See Wheaton College (Illinois). As these figures change yearly, we should let our readers know how old the information is (and remind our editors to make updates), and having a field is a good way to remind people to add this information.

An very widely used and high visibility example of what I mean is in Template:infobox country. There, the Gini and HDI fields have dates included in parentheses right next to the term. Thus for United States we have:

|Gini                     = 45.0[1]
|Gini_year                = 2007

yielding

Gini(2007) 45.0

I unfortunately have no idea how to work with template syntax to make this happen, if people think it's a good idea. Erudy (talk) 02:47, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

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I think we should allow the use of geoloc+map in the infobox. I have tryed it in the sand box, and it's working. So if there is no opposition I think it might be a good idea (it's widely used already on the French Wikipedia). XIIIfromTOKYO (talk) 18:14, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

 Done, though please make sure the sandbox is up to date with the current code next time so that it can be cleanly copied over (I had to manually add the new content to the live template rather than just syncing from the sandbox). Please update the template documentation. Thanks! Chris Cunningham (user:thumperward) (talk) 13:14, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Why is "streetaddress" and other address fields missing from this infobox? It exists in Template:Infobox school. • Sbmeirow • Talk • 10:34, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

Template:Infobox university

{{#if:{{{location|}}}|<span class="extended-address">{{{location}}}</span>|{{#if:{{{city|}}}|<span class="locality">{{{city}}}</span>}}{{#if:{{{state|}}}{{{province|}}}|, <span class="region">{{{state|}}}{{{province|}}}</span>}}{{#if:{{{country|}}}|, <span class="country-name">{{{country}}}</span>}} }}{{#if:{{{coor|}}}|<br />{{{coor}}} }}

Template:Infobox school

{{#if:{{{address|}}}{{{streetaddress|}}}{{{street|}}}{{{location|}}}{{{Location|}}}{{{region|}}}{{{Region|}}}{{{city|}}}{{{city/town|}}}{{{state|}}}{{{country|}}}{{{province|}}}{{{county|}}}{{{postcode|}}}{{{postalcode|}}}{{{zipcode|}}}{{{country|}}}{{{country1|}}}{{{coordinates|}}}{{{latitude|}}}{{{longitude|}}}{{{latd|}}}{{{longd|}}}| ! colspan=2 style="text-align: center; background-color: lavender" {{!}} {{#if:{{{streetaddress|}}}|Address|Location}}

The better question is to ask why those templates have that field. This is an encyclopedia, not a directory. ElKevbo (talk) 13:26, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

Agreed. Esrever ^(klaT) 14:51, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

Uh...so you can easily find the school...without having to dig through school website. A person could also argue "why the heck do we have any info boxes on Wikipedia", when most of that information is repeated within the article, thus it is nothing more than duplicate information. Wikipedia is meant to be a website that has useful information, not a clone of Encyclopedia Britanica. • Sbmeirow • Talk • 15:37, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

So which street address, exactly, would you want to use? The president's office? The board of trust? The largest school? The admissions office? The athletics office? It's not a cut-and-dry issue to begin with. Esrever ^(klaT) 18:11, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

We could list some order of priority. The address and GPS coords listed in GNIS database for schools in the USA, the mailing address listed on the school web site (as long as the address is located on the primary school grounds), ... If there are conflicts or disagreement, then discuss per school issue. I'm sure it would only be an issue for the largest schools. There are large numbers of smaller schools that I'm sure they have one primary mailing address, then all the buildings are a suffix or additional line of the address that is not important for wikipedia. • Sbmeirow • Talk • 08:28, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

Not an almanac or yellow pages. Shouldn't be there at all. Maybe 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or 10 Downing Street. But I can thing of few other occasions to use addresses in an encyclopedia. Student7 (talk) 16:02, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

I would like to propose the idea that a "founder" field be added to this template. Many schools have a founder who is either already deceased or who does not occupy any of the other existing "position" fields of the template. Thanks Mercy11 (talk) 13:06, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

This template has a |motto= parameter, and a |mottoeng= for the English translation when the former is not in English. In such cases, we should also have a |motto_lang= parameter, to take the relevant ISO language code (e.g. "fr" for French). See |native_name= and |native_name_lang= in {{Infobox settlement}} for a similar case.

The relevant markup would be something like:

{{#if:{{{motto|}}}{{#if:{{{motto_lang|}}}|<span lang="{{{motto_lang}}}" xml:lang="{{{motto_lang}}}"}}>{{{motto}}} {{#if:{{{motto_lang|}}}|</span>}} }}

but I'd be grateful if someone could check that, please. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 13:56, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

 Done, thanks. Can you update the documentation? Chris Cunningham (user:thumperward) (talk) 14:53, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Why was this done? Under parameter |motto=, the doc page states, "If not in English, use {{Lang}}". The template {{Lang}} is used on about 300,000 pages, and already incorporates the functionality of |motto_lang=. I see no reason for parameter |motto_lang=; it is just clutter. I suggest that it is not necessary, and be removed. HairyWombat 18:49, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

In keeping with other templates with parameters for non-English content, it moves the cognitive load from the editor to the tempate; and removes an unnecessary template call. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 19:04, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

There were some errors in the code. Fixed with this edit. -- WOSlinker (talk) 20:13, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

{{Infobox university}} needs to change to support bare filenames at the |image= field. -- Magioladitis (talk) 14:19, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Try using parameter |image_name=, as described on the doc page. HairyWombat 15:26, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

A "traded_as" field is available in Template:Infobox_company, but not in the infobox for colleges and universities. I noticed that the DeVry_University infobox places the info under "type", but template documentation does not indicate that the trading info should be appended to the "type" field. I think the "traded_as" field should be used to keep consistent with how the information is presented in corporation articles. Thelema418 (talk) 21:31, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Never heard of a university being traded on the stock market before. I had thought most universities were charities or non-profits, and I can't believe that there are many like this. If I am correct then there is little need for this parameter. HairyWombat 05:59, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

But that is why I think it is needed; the information doesn't stand out and it is presented in a way that is inconsitent with how such information is presented in corporation profiles. Any private university can be publicly traded on the stock market. This is perhaps "novel" in the history of colleges, but there are at least 10 publicly traded universities in the United States. Thelema418 (talk) 23:15, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Given that so few universities are affected, the parameter pair |free_label= / |free= can be used for this. HairyWombat 20:05, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

Exactly; we don't design infoboxes to cater to the vast minority of situations, but to present data that applies to the broadest number of articles. Use "free_label" if you really think this is necessary (though I don't think this is useful infobox data, myself). — Huntster (t @ c) 06:51, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

I noticed a "Nobel Laureates" section on MIT's infobox today and realized it has been there ever since Umofomia added the information more than 4 years ago. I think it is a great addition to the infobox but it is currently not a part of the university infobox template. I understand this section will not apply to all universities but this short bit of information could help the reader quantitatively determine a universities prestige or merit in the research community. With that said, I would like to propose adding a Nobel Laureates section to the university infobox template. --Triesault (talk) 01:05, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Oppose: The MIT {{Infobox university}} adds the number of nobel laureates using the parameter pair |free_label= / |free=. The Doc page states, "Use free_label to display any specialty field title.", and I would suggest that "Nobel Laureates" is an appropriate use for this parameter. The number of possible fixed (unfree) fields is virtually infinite, so these should be deployed with care, and reserved for fields that are common to many universities. A "Nobel Laureates" field could be used by only a few universities.

What might be beneficial is adding to the Doc page the suggestion of using the parameter |free_label= for "Nobel Laureates" (and |free= for the number). At the moment, no example is offered. HairyWombat 04:42, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Sorry to disturb.

I think there are two problems regarding the infobox.

The reference title of TIMES rankings on the infobox is "Top 400 – The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011–2012" but the website actually shows the results of their 2012-13 rankings.

Moreover, I personally suggest to make it clear that the QS World University Rankings is different from the QS Asian University Rankings in the positions of Asian universities they give in the same year. The template shows on the Global section the result of the QS World rankings with the title "QS" while the Asia section displays the result of the QS Asian rankings under the same title without indicating that they are actually independent of each other. One may think that, for example, HKUST is No.1 in Asia and 33rd in the world, but the fact is that it was placed at 33rd worldwide and 4th in Asia by the QS World University Rankings in 2012 (HKU is regarded as NO.1 in Asia) and just topped the league table of QS Asian rankings in the same year.

As I don't know how to modify the template, I hope someone can have a look on that. Thank you!

14.136.64.76 (talk) 13:53, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

This Infobox template does not display rankings. The example you give of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology displays ranking using the template {{Infobox world university ranking}}. I believe you need to take your concerns over to Template Talk:Infobox world university ranking (just click on this red link and the Talk Page will be created). HairyWombat 20:21, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

I am a postgraduate student in King Abdulaziz university in Saudi Arabia. Our course instructor has given us an assignment to write a document about technological education in Saudi Arabia. We have done that. I created a logo to put it in an infobox. But the parameters Course instructor and Postgraduate Students are not included in the university template, so I can write our course instructor name and our names in the infobox. Could you please add these two parameters so I can get full marks because of the job that I have done specially with the logo? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Abuaaser (talk • contribs) 23:22, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

This will not be done. This infobox is for general information about a University, and instructor and student names must not be included. I cannot imagine any situation where such information would be appropriate in an article; is there any reason for adding it other than as a writing credit or vanity issue? On top of this, I'm assuming you want to include the infobox in the article you are currently writing. There's no reason for {{Infobox university}} to be used there, since it is not about any specific university. I simply don't see any way to accommodate your request at this time, in any form or fashion (including custom templates...the information simply isn't notable enough for inclusion in an article).

If your course instructor is unsatisfied with this response, please direct him to this talk page or my own personal talk page and I will endeavour to explain the problem further. He should not be assigning grades based on situations he doesn't understand. — Huntster (t @ c) 23:35, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Like that's ever stopped most professors. ;-) Esrever ^(klaT) 01:41, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

I agree with no course lecturers -- if you Abuaaser need a course page then it should probably not even be hosted on wikipedia proper but another wiki. Or create your own template similar to this one. Because the university entries (I've seen) using this template lists student population not individual students. However, I do think it is a good idea to add masters, graduate students, and post-doctoral to the list. It would make the template more universal since different countries use the words differently (I only know about US and CA though). However, when the university websites list their population it would be more correct, in my opinion, to match the word choice for proper citations. Also maybe adjunct since sometimes they are not always counted among "academic staff" since it is employment at will, but that would probably be too much and I doubt many universities list that data. Frederika Eilers (talk) 04:20, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

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<code>
| data32     = {{#if:{{{location|}}}|<span class="extended-address">{{{location}}}</span>|{{#if:{{{city|}}}|<span class="locality">{{{city}}}</span>}}{{#if:{{{state|}}}{{{province|}}}|, <span class="region">{{{state|}}}{{{province|}}}</span>}}{{#if:{{{country|}}}|, <span class="country-name">{{{country}}}</span>}} }}{{#if:{{{coor|}}}|<br />{{{coor}}} }}
</code>

to:

<code>
| data32     = {{#if:{{{location|}}}|<span class="extended-address">{{{location}}}</span>|{{#if:{{{city|}}}|<span class="locality">{{{city}}}</span>}}{{#if:{{{state|}}}{{{province|}}}|{{#if:{{{city|}}}|,}} <span class="region">{{{state|}}}{{{province|}}}</span>}}{{#if:{{{country|}}}|{{#if:{{{city|}}}{{{state|}}}{{{province|}}}|,}} <span class="country-name">{{{country}}}</span>}} }}{{#if:{{{coor|}}}|<br />{{{coor}}} }}
</code>

This will make the display of commas conditional on a preceding value being present. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:19, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Andy, have you tested this code? It would be good if you could put it in Template:Infobox university/sandbox and add a relevant test case or two at Template:Infobox university/testcases. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 13:10, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Not done for now: Please reopen this request after the code has been tested. Best — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 05:22, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

I would like to propose the idea that a "founder" field be added to this template. Many schools have a founder who is either already deceased or who does not occupy any of the other existing "position" fields of the template. Thanks My name is , and I approve this message. 18:25, 1 August 2013 (UTC)— Preceding unsigned comment added by Mercy11 (talk • contribs)

Any takers yet? Thanks, Mercy11 (talk) 18:30, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Most infoboxes on Wikipedia have a field called native_name_lang where the correct ISO 639-2 for the native_name text can be added. The Infobox university is missing this field. Rincewind42 (talk) 15:07, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Good point...yeah, that should be added. Mercy11 (talk) 18:30, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Virtually all University articles on Wikipedia start the same way: the name in english (e.g. Royal Institute of Technology) and between parenthesis the native name (Kungliga tekniska högskolan) and the abbreviaton (KTH). The name in english and the native name are fields of the infobox, but the abbreviation for some reason isn't. I believe it's worth including it there. I actually think it's fundamental, and it should probably be at the top, before anything else, since it's so often more recognized than the full name.Ariel Pontes (talk) 16:40, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

Mercy asked me to take a look. I'm reluctant to make changes this early in my template-editor career. I don't see consensus here (yet). And I caution against adding fields that involve more than core information about the university, since everything in an infobox is (or should be) included in the main text. My personal decision would be not to add the three in question, but it's not about my personal likes, so let's see if consensus develops. Tony (talk) 07:41, 4 February 2014 (UTC)

According to WP:Concensus [1], consensus is used to resolve disputes, but there is no dispute here. Please be WP:BOLD and make the improvements. Thanks. Mercy11 (talk) 22:58, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

First, I'm not entirely sure what improvements you're referring to. Second, there is usually a higher bar for seeking consensus in templates that are used in many articles. And I'm not sure it's very appropriate to tell someone else to be bold when that person is only being asked to make changes that others have requested.

So you can please clarify exactly what improvements you believe should be made to this template? Thanks! ElKevbo (talk) 23:47, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

The requests are immediately above this section and they are:

1. Founder
2. Native name language
3. Anthem

Thanks, Mercy11 (talk) 20:14, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

Native name language is a good idea, but I see no real reason to include Founder or Anthem. The infobox is overloaded as it is, and would ideally be trimmed down a bit. — Huntster (t @ c) 21:19, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

I support native name too; but don't care for Anthem. However, I think we should also include founder as well, since some schools may have been prominently founded by a single individual but for others, such as the state-run schools, the founder field generally would not be applicable. As with many other templates ([[Template:Infobox building]], [[Template:Infobox person]], etc) field use depends, of course, on each specific case. For example, we have traditionally provided fields in templates that exists for optional use only. Template:Infobox person, for example, uses disappeared_date and disappeared_place which are obviously optional fields. Mercy11 (talk) 02:51, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

I agree: Native name language may be a good addition since that could be considered essential information. But the other two fields don't seem like information that is so essential that it should be included in this infobox (which is already way too long and filled with many other fields that also aren't essential and shouldn't be included!). ElKevbo (talk) 04:18, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

• Tony, the consensus you wanted is here. Please add the Native language field. Regards, Mercy11 (talk) 11:12, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Sorry. What is "native name?" The name in the native language? That would be useful, but parameter should be clear. The language of the natives attending school? Not so enthused about that, though germane in places like India. Student7 (talk) 00:03, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

I have created an alternative to the demo image Dabney-minimalist in vector format. Use it if you wish to promote the use of vector formats over png. Image:Dabney-minimalist-vector.svg Kyle^(talk) 07:30, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Where is the university article guideline, similar to WP:USCITY for cities. • Sbmeirow • Talk • 18:30, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

WP:UNIGUIDE. But be aware that some of the material was constructed some time ago and may not be up to date with actual practice. Student7 (talk) 16:04, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

Hi, Could you please add "Language" to the template? In some countries most of the universities teach in the local language but some of them teach in English, so this addition could benefit lots of students. --Bo yaser (talk) 12:15, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

added. Frietjes (talk) 14:37, 16 August 2014 (UTC)

Should we include if a University is semester or quarter hours in the infobox? Although both are accredited universities, credits don't often transfer between the two systems. Vincent C (talk) 17:23, 31 August 2014 (UTC)