A university ranking is a popular and widely cited tool used by students, parents, faculty members, potential funders, and others seeking an objective insight into the academic excellence of universities nationally and globally. However, it’s important to understand how these rankings work and the inherent limitations of the methodology.
Rankings often use a set of indicators to evaluate the performance of a university across a range of topics, such as research, teaching, student experience, and employability. Some rankings also consider the impact of a university’s research by measuring citations or journal impact factors. However, these metrics can be skewed by factors that are beyond the control of the university, such as the number of prestigious alumni or the value of endowments.
Many of the publications that organize annual rankings are for-profit businesses that generate revenue from subscriptions, partnerships, or advertising efforts. This creates a financial incentive for colleges to focus on improving areas that increase their rank, which can lead to skewed results.
For example, the US News & World Report ranking factor “student selectivity” is determined by the average SAT/ACT score of incoming freshmen. The higher the score, the better the rank. As a result, college presidents seek to boost their ranks by becoming more selective and investing in amenities to attract top students, driving up costs for the average American and contributing to the sense that colleges aren’t trustworthy or valuable, a sentiment echoed by President Trump in his State of the Union address.