The Economist in October 2015 published results of own research and its first-ever U.S.college rankings. [1]
The objective of new college rankings set to define and display comparable economical advantages, what may be of particular importance for prospective students: 'the economic value of a university is equal to the gap between how much its students subsequently earn, and how much they might have made had they studied elsewhere'.
On September 12 U.S. Department of Education published a College Scorecard [2] website containing a cornucopia of data about universities. The government generated the numbers by matching individuals’ student-loan applications to their subsequent tax returns, making it possible to compare pupils’ qualifications and demographic characteristics when they entered college with their salaries ten years later. That information offers the potential to disentangle student merit from university contributions, and thus to determine which colleges deliver the greatest return and why. The scorecard, makes reference numbers for 'expected earnings' easy accessible and in order to calculate 'median earnings' evaluation method used to run the scorecard’s earnings data through a multiple regression analysis, a common method of measuring the relationships between variables.
College and university rankings | Rankings of universities in the United States
Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of the state. It was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer.
Education in the United States is provided in public, private, and home schools. State governments set overall educational standards, often mandate standardized tests for K–12 public school systems and supervise, usually through a board of regents, state colleges, and universities. The bulk of the $1.3 trillion in funding comes from state and local governments, with federal funding accounting for only about $200 billion. Private schools are free to determine their own curriculum and staffing policies, with voluntary accreditation available through independent regional accreditation authorities, although some state regulation can apply.
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Twin Cities campus comprises locations in Minneapolis and Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul, approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) apart. The Twin Cities campus is the oldest and largest in the University of Minnesota system and has the ninth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,376 students at the start of the 2021–22 academic year. It is the flagship institution of the University of Minnesota System, and is organized into 19 colleges, schools, and other major academic units.
College and university rankings are rankings of institutions in higher education based on combinations of various factors. None of the rankings give a comprehensive overview of the strengths of the institutions because all select a range of quantifiable characteristics to base their results on. Rankings have been conducted by magazines, newspapers, websites, governments, and academics. In addition to ranking entire institutions, organizations rank programs, departments, and schools. Rankings consider various combinations of measures of funding and endowment, research excellence and/or influence, specialization expertise, admissions, student options, award numbers, internationalization, graduate employment, industrial linkage, historical reputation and other criteria. Various rankings mostly evaluating on institutional output by research. Some rankings evaluate institutions within a single country, while others assess institutions worldwide. The subject has produced much debate about rankings' usefulness and accuracy. The expanding diversity in rating methodologies and accompanying criticisms of each indicate the lack of consensus in the field. Further, it seems possible to game the ranking systems through excessive self-citations or by researchers supporting each other in surveys. UNESCO has questioned whether rankings "do more harm than good", while acknowledging that "Rightly or wrongly, they are perceived as a measure of quality and so create intense competition between universities all over the world".
U.S. News & World Report is an American media company that publishes news, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. It was launched in 1948 as the merger of domestic-focused weekly newspaper U.S. News and international-focused weekly magazine World Report. In 1995, the company launched 'usnews.com' and in 2010, the magazine ceased printing.
University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree levels. It is institutionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and has an open enrollment admissions policy, accepting all applicants with a high-school diploma, GED, or its equivalent as sufficient for admission. The school is owned by Apollo Global Management, an American private equity firm.
The Florida Institute of Technology is a private research university in Melbourne, Florida. The university comprises four academic colleges: Engineering & Science, Aeronautics, Psychology & Liberal Arts, and Business. Approximately half of FIT's students are enrolled in the College of Engineering & Science. The university's 130-acre primary residential campus is near the Melbourne Orlando International Airport and the Florida Tech Research Park.
The University of Arizona Global Campus, formerly Ashford University, is an online university "operated in affiliation with the University of Arizona." In 2020, Ashford University was acquired by the University of Arizona, becoming the University of Arizona Global Campus. Zovio, a for-profit higher education corporation and Ashford's former owner, is the campus's online program manager.
Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarters at 9045 Lincoln Boulevard in Westchester, Los Angeles. The school's programs, accredited by the WSCUC and National Association of Schools of Art and Design, include BFA and MFA degrees.
Higher education in the United States is an optional stage of formal learning following secondary education. Higher education is also referred as post-secondary education, third-stage, third-level, or tertiary education. It covers stages 5 to 8 on the International ISCED 2011 scale. It is delivered at 4,360 Title IV degree-granting institutions, known as colleges or universities. These may be public or private universities, research universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, or for-profit colleges. US higher education is loosely regulated by the government and by several third-party organizations.
College admissions in the United States refers to the process of applying for entrance to institutions of higher education for undergraduate study at one of the nation's colleges or universities. For those who intend to attend college immediately after high school, the college search usually begins in the eleventh grade with most activity taking place during the twelfth grade, although students at top high schools often begin the process during their tenth grade or earlier. In addition, there are considerable numbers of students who transfer from one college to another, as well as adults older than high school age who apply to college.
Robert James Shiller is an American economist, academic, and best-selling author. As of 2019, he serves as a Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University and is a fellow at the Yale School of Management's International Center for Finance. Shiller has been a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) since 1980, was vice president of the American Economic Association in 2005, its president-elect for 2016, and president of the Eastern Economic Association for 2006–2007. He is also the co‑founder and chief economist of the investment management firm MacroMarkets LLC.
Criticism of college and university rankings refers to movements which developed among faculty and administrators in institutions of higher education in the United States as well as in Canada. The arguments of those who criticize the ranking are that it is not possible to come with a single number that characterizes university performance. Furthermore, ratings can be easily manipulated and include such subjective characteristics as the "reputation" determined by surveying university administrators such as chancellors or deans. Critics say rankings have incentivized institutions to encourage more unqualified students to apply and are a better measure of the abilities students had when they arrived than what they learned from higher education.
Saybrook University is a private university in Pasadena, California. It was founded in 1971 by Eleanor Camp Criswell and others. It offers postgraduate education with a focus on humanistic psychology. It features low residency, master's and doctoral degrees and professional certification programs. The university is regionally accredited by the Senior Colleges and Universities Commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The university is classified as a Research Doctoral: Humanities/social sciences-dominant institution by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. As of Fall of 2017 the university had 785 students enrolled. The university reports 222 full time and part time academic faculty.
The higher education bubble in the United States is a highly controversial claim that excessive investment in higher education could have negative repercussions in the broader economy. According to the claim, generally associated with fiscal conservatives, although college tuition payments are rising, the supply of college graduates in many fields of study is exceeding the demand for their skills, which aggravates graduate unemployment and underemployment while increasing the burden of student loan defaults on financial institutions and taxpayers. The claim has generally been used to justify cuts to public higher education spending, tax cuts, or a shift of government spending towards the criminal justice system and the Department of Defense.
College and university rankings in the United States are rankings of U.S. colleges and universities based on factors that vary depending on the ranking. Rankings are typically conducted by magazines, newspapers, websites, or academics. The most popular and influential set of rankings is published by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to ranking entire institutions, specific programs, departments, and schools can be ranked. Some rankings consider measures of wealth, research excellence, selectivity, and alumni success. There is much debate about rankings' interpretation, accuracy, and usefulness.
The College Scorecard is an online tool, created by the United States government, for consumers to compare the cost and value of higher education institutions in the United States. At launch, it displayed data in five areas: cost, graduation rate, employment rate, average amount borrowed, and loan default rate.
The U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Ranking is an annual set of rankings of American colleges and universities published by U.S. News & World Report beginning in 1983. They are the most widely quoted of their kind in the United States.
Higher education in the United States is an optional stage of formal learning following secondary education. Higher education, also referred to as post-secondary education, third-stage, third-level, or tertiary education occurs most commonly at one of the 4,360 Title IV degree-granting institutions, either colleges or universities in the country. These may be public universities, private universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, or for-profit colleges. US higher education is loosely regulated by several third-party organizations.