Miami Unconcerned With Drop In University Rankings
Lauren Shellito
Issue date: 12/12/09 Section: Scene
Raising Miami's standing in the US News & World Report rankings will not become a priority, despite the 11-place drop this year.
"Every time we get rankings and there's a drop its cause for concern," says Miami President David Hodge. "But there's no such thing as a one size fits all model for a good university."
Since US News & World Report relies on information provided by universities to formulate its annual rankings, many schools have been caught manipulating their data. Among universities whose methods have come into question are North Carolina State, Cornell, Penn State, Georgia Tech, Florida and Clemson.
"The manipulation is incredible," Hodge says. "Schools can still be good and manipulate their numbers, but I don't want to live that way."
The annual US News & World Report article, "America's Best National Universities," ranks schools based on different quantitative criteria which includes the student to faculty ratio, alumni giving, the percent of full time faculty, graduation rate, selectivity, the percent of classes under 20 and the percent of classes under 50. US News & World Report has been criticized for measuring inputs rather than outputs in their rankings by not taking student experiences and outcomes into account. According to US News & World Report's director of data research, Bob Morse, choosing the criteria was a complicated process.
"We wanted to have criteria that show the student experience, but when you measure things you have to consider what's available and what isn't available," Morse says. "And qualitative information on student outcomes and experiences just isn't measurable."
The only qualitative part of the US News & World Report rankings is the "peer assessment," which counts for 25 percent of a university's score, and is also the most easily manipulated. Every year, university presidents are sent a survey where they rank the reputation of other schools on a five-point scale. For the past two years Miami has ranked a 3.2. All national universities are included on the survey, so university presidents rank their own school as well as their greatest competitors. Schools like Florida and Clemson have come under scrutiny after Inside Higher Education revealed they consistently gave themselves top scores while giving their competitors bottom marks.
Hodge doesn't think these are isolated cases.
"I have to tell you in all honesty I sweat bullets when I fill that survey out, torn between wanting to advance Miami and do the right thing," Hodge says. "If I'm tempted, you can bet other schools are doing it."
US News & World Report disregards the highest three and lowest three rankings for every school as a precaution against such manipulation. According to Morse, cases like Florida and Clemson are exceptions, not the norm. He thinks faulty surveys mix with the majority of honest ones and have little effect on the final results.
"The stability of the results shows that this happens only on rare occasions," Morse says.
The quantitative data used by US News & World Report comes from surveys filled out by the department of institutional research, responsible for compiling and reporting data on the university to the government, the institution and publications.
Andrea Bakker, assistant director for institutional research, filled out parts of the 109 page US News & World Report survey as well as surveys for other publications. She thinks the most important part of surveys is the directions.
"The directions need to be specific because it changes the numbers we would give," Bakker explains. "For example, when they ask for the number of students, we need to know whether they mean full time, part time, or everyone."
Many schools have come under scrutiny for not accurately relaying their data. Georgia Tech and Nebraska claimed that 100 percent of their faculty was full time, but a report by Inside Higher Education revealed both schools failed to include adjunct faculty (non tenure track faculty who often work at more than one institution) in their calculations. Inside Higher Education reported that these two schools, among other research universities, did not think the directions in the US News & World Report survey called for adjunct faculty to be counted.
Morse maintains that it did.
"If schools did not include adjunct faculty they were blatantly disregarding our directions," he says.
Miami did include adjunct faculty in its calculation of full time faculty, which came out to 87 percent.
"The directions in the US News survey were pretty specific" Bakker says. "Much clearer than other surveys I have filled out."
One way Miami could improve its ranking would be to actively focus solely on the criteria reported to US News & World Report. Miami could increase its percentage of classes under 20 by capping small classes at 19 students. It could increase selectivity by encouraging unqualified students to apply, so they could be rejected, or improve alumni giving by starting a campaign to encourage all alumni to donate $5. Clemson used many of these tactics in its well-publicized campaign to reach the top 20, according to a report by Inside Higher Education. Hodge doesn't consider these tactics an option.
"Capping all classes at 19 for example would not fit in our budget when they could just as easily hold 24 or 25," Hodge says.
Despite disappointment in Miami's ranking and a few angry letters from alumni, Hodge maintains that focusing on the ranking would not increase the value of undergraduate education at Miami.
He has a point.
"I spent a long time at the University of Washington, a consistently top ranked university, and the student experience (at Miami) is much better than it is (at Washington)," Hodge says. "The ranking doesn't say who we are."
"Every time we get rankings and there's a drop its cause for concern," says Miami President David Hodge. "But there's no such thing as a one size fits all model for a good university."
Since US News & World Report relies on information provided by universities to formulate its annual rankings, many schools have been caught manipulating their data. Among universities whose methods have come into question are North Carolina State, Cornell, Penn State, Georgia Tech, Florida and Clemson.
"The manipulation is incredible," Hodge says. "Schools can still be good and manipulate their numbers, but I don't want to live that way."
The annual US News & World Report article, "America's Best National Universities," ranks schools based on different quantitative criteria which includes the student to faculty ratio, alumni giving, the percent of full time faculty, graduation rate, selectivity, the percent of classes under 20 and the percent of classes under 50. US News & World Report has been criticized for measuring inputs rather than outputs in their rankings by not taking student experiences and outcomes into account. According to US News & World Report's director of data research, Bob Morse, choosing the criteria was a complicated process.
"We wanted to have criteria that show the student experience, but when you measure things you have to consider what's available and what isn't available," Morse says. "And qualitative information on student outcomes and experiences just isn't measurable."
The only qualitative part of the US News & World Report rankings is the "peer assessment," which counts for 25 percent of a university's score, and is also the most easily manipulated. Every year, university presidents are sent a survey where they rank the reputation of other schools on a five-point scale. For the past two years Miami has ranked a 3.2. All national universities are included on the survey, so university presidents rank their own school as well as their greatest competitors. Schools like Florida and Clemson have come under scrutiny after Inside Higher Education revealed they consistently gave themselves top scores while giving their competitors bottom marks.
Hodge doesn't think these are isolated cases.
"I have to tell you in all honesty I sweat bullets when I fill that survey out, torn between wanting to advance Miami and do the right thing," Hodge says. "If I'm tempted, you can bet other schools are doing it."
US News & World Report disregards the highest three and lowest three rankings for every school as a precaution against such manipulation. According to Morse, cases like Florida and Clemson are exceptions, not the norm. He thinks faulty surveys mix with the majority of honest ones and have little effect on the final results.
"The stability of the results shows that this happens only on rare occasions," Morse says.
The quantitative data used by US News & World Report comes from surveys filled out by the department of institutional research, responsible for compiling and reporting data on the university to the government, the institution and publications.
Andrea Bakker, assistant director for institutional research, filled out parts of the 109 page US News & World Report survey as well as surveys for other publications. She thinks the most important part of surveys is the directions.
"The directions need to be specific because it changes the numbers we would give," Bakker explains. "For example, when they ask for the number of students, we need to know whether they mean full time, part time, or everyone."
Many schools have come under scrutiny for not accurately relaying their data. Georgia Tech and Nebraska claimed that 100 percent of their faculty was full time, but a report by Inside Higher Education revealed both schools failed to include adjunct faculty (non tenure track faculty who often work at more than one institution) in their calculations. Inside Higher Education reported that these two schools, among other research universities, did not think the directions in the US News & World Report survey called for adjunct faculty to be counted.
Morse maintains that it did.
"If schools did not include adjunct faculty they were blatantly disregarding our directions," he says.
Miami did include adjunct faculty in its calculation of full time faculty, which came out to 87 percent.
"The directions in the US News survey were pretty specific" Bakker says. "Much clearer than other surveys I have filled out."
One way Miami could improve its ranking would be to actively focus solely on the criteria reported to US News & World Report. Miami could increase its percentage of classes under 20 by capping small classes at 19 students. It could increase selectivity by encouraging unqualified students to apply, so they could be rejected, or improve alumni giving by starting a campaign to encourage all alumni to donate $5. Clemson used many of these tactics in its well-publicized campaign to reach the top 20, according to a report by Inside Higher Education. Hodge doesn't consider these tactics an option.
"Capping all classes at 19 for example would not fit in our budget when they could just as easily hold 24 or 25," Hodge says.
Despite disappointment in Miami's ranking and a few angry letters from alumni, Hodge maintains that focusing on the ranking would not increase the value of undergraduate education at Miami.
He has a point.
"I spent a long time at the University of Washington, a consistently top ranked university, and the student experience (at Miami) is much better than it is (at Washington)," Hodge says. "The ranking doesn't say who we are."
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