Entries for June 2009

I just returned from the International Rankings Experts Group—4 meeting that was held June 14-16 in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. It was the fourth meeting of the world's leading experts on university rankings. IREG—4's stimulating program discussed various topics concerning national, regional, and global university rankings and their impact on the academic world, society, and policymakers. These global meetings are an opportunity to get together and exchange ideas and experiences with those who publish and study rankings around the world. Participants from about 30 countries attended.

Rankings, now being conducted in more than 40 countries, serve different purposes for different audiences. Even if rankings are not necessarily universally appreciated, there is an increasing understanding that they have become a key factor in the higher ed accountability movement. There is little doubt that rankings are here to stay. Indisputably, ranking universities has changed the way higher education institutions and their activities are being presented, perceived, and assessed at all levels.

U.S. News has just published a midyear update of the World's Best Colleges and Universities rankings. We've expanded the number of schools and countries on these lists. These rankings are based on data from the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings, which were produced in association with QS Quacquarelli Symonds. One of the world's leading networks for careers and education, QS Quacquarelli Symonds has been publishing world rankings since 2004.

We now have the Top 400 Universities worldwide (increased from the Top 200), the Top 30 Asian Universities (to be expanded in the near future to the Top 60), the Top 60 European Universities (increased from the Top 30), the Top 20 Canadian Universities (unchanged), and the Top 20 Australian and New Zealand Universities (unchanged). The listing also includes the Top 100 global rankings in the fields of arts and humanities; engineering and IT; life sciences and biomedicine; natural sciences; and social sciences (each global subject area rankings was expanded from the Top 50).

The U.S. News rankings have been in the news lately because of questions about some of the information a few schools have submitted. First, it's important to note that U.S. News produces the rankings to spotlight the country's top academic programs. The rankings give the public the important ability to compare institutions on many key characteristics. We believe that they offer prospective students and their parents one tool to start to find the best school for them.

Though much of the data U.S. News uses to calculate the rankings can be (and often is) cross-checked with the statistics that government and professional agencies gather, U.S. News does rely on the schools to report data accurately to us. This is a reasonable expectation, given that these same academic institutions are dedicated to the exchange of information and demand the highest level of accuracy and integrity from their students and faculty.

Clemson University is facing both controversy and criticism after Catherine Watt, a director of a research center at Clemson, made a presentation this week at the annual forum of the Association for Institutional Research in Atlanta about the aggressive steps the university has taken to meet its goal of rising in the U.S. News America's Best Colleges rankings.

It's no secret that Clemson's goal is to become a top 20 public research university: There's a whole section of the school's website called "Why Top 20" that explains the rationale behind the goal and what the potential benefits would be for students and the university. (Currently, Clemson ranks 22nd in that "best publics" list, up from 38th in 2001.) Yesterday, Clemson responded to Watt's presentation with a prepared statement after both Inside Higher Ed and the Chronicle of Higher Education had articles on her presentation.