1. Are rankings fact, fiction or somewhere
in between? Learn more about
university rankings, what they mean
and how you can use them.
2. Top 5 Colleges & Universities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
MIT
Harvard
Cambridge
UCL
Imperial
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Cal Tech
Oxford
Harvard
Stanford
MIT
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Harvard
Stanford
Berkeley
MIT
Cambridge
3. What Criteria Did You Use?
• Number of citations by university researchers?
• Number of alumni winning Nobel Prizes and
Fields Medals?
• Academic-athletic balance?
• Proportion of international faculty?
• 6 year graduation rate?
• Salaries of alumni? Salaries of faculty?
• Acceptance rate?
5. Outcomes-Based Rankings
• 1900 UK – Where We Get Our Best Men
– Published a list of universities ranked in order by
the absolute number of eminent men who
attended them
• 1910 US – American Men of Science
– “Students should certainly use every effort to
attend institutions having large proportions of
men of distinction.”
6. Reputational Rankings
• 1924 US – Raymond Hughes’ study on
graduate school quality
• 1966 US – Assessment of Quality in Graduate
Education, The Cartter Report
– Surveyed leading profs from different graduate
disciplines
7. Pre-US News World of Rankings
• Rankings were the realm of professors and
higher education administrators, not the
general public
• They were published as studies in littlecirculated academic books and journals
• Even if located, they were often too obscure
and esoteric
9. The Beginning
• First university ranking system to be published in
a popular publication (1983)
• The first three versions were published every
other year and were entirely based on
reputational surveys of college presidents
• In 1988, US News began its annual publication of
rankings and incorporated additional criteria
(input and output)
10. Impact of US News
• Impact on high school student (and parent)
decisions
– Students with high academic achievement are
highly likely to find rankings “very important”
• Impact of decisions made by universities on:
– Admissions rates and practices
– Fundraising and spending
– Hiring
11. Gaming the System
• Universities have falsified data
• Reporting academic information only for
certain demographics
• Universities use unfair admissions practices
– Huge numbers on waitlists
– Part I of an application
13. USA
• US News
• Forbes
– Based on academic outcomes and student reviews
of professors
– Combines universities and colleges
• Princeton Review
– Aspects of college life
• Kiplinger’s Best Values
14. UK
Comprehensive and by Subject
– Involves the National Student Survey (data from 2 to 3
years ago)
– Graduate prospects – How is this measured?
• The Guardian
– Focuses on teaching; ignores research
• The Times Good University Guide
– Research quality is from 2008!
• The Complete University Guide
15. Canada
• Maclean’s
– Library = 15%
– National Awards by faculty = 20%
* DIY Rankings! Cool
* Includes information from the National Survey of
Student Engagement
Where’s the competition?
16. World
Include Subject-based Rankings
• QS World University Rankings
– 40% Global Reputation Survey
– Proportion of international students/faculty
• Times Higher Education World University Rankings
• Academic Ranking of World Universities
– China
– Simple formula based on academic distinctions and research
Where are US colleges?
22. QS World University Rankings
Criteria
Academic Reputation
Employer Reputation
Faculty-Student Ratio
Citations Per Faculty
International Students
International Faculty
24. Quality?
• Quality cannot be quantified
• Rankings measure how an institution grades out for
specific criteria
• When publications change their criteria, the rankings
noticeably change – sometimes drastically
• They can tell you, in general terms, about the academic
credentials of the students they attract
25. One Size Fits All?
• Institutions are so different with different
missions. Aren’t we unfairly comparing
institutions? Worldwide?
• Are rankings really personal for you? Aren’t
they generic?
27. How Can You Use Rankings?
• Read the methodology. Know what you’re
looking at.
• Group universities (and colleges together)
• Use a variety of publications
• Use them as one small factor in your search
