School is in the same tier, but getting better reviews

Universities might disagree with how U.S. News & World Report compiles its annual list of the nation’s best colleges, but the higher education community — students, parents, faculty, administrators and alumni — once again paid attention when the magazine released its 2007 rankings.

Oregon State University landed in the third tier, same as last year, with 54 other universities, but made gains in peer assessment, alumni giving and percentage of classes with fewer than 20 students, according to Todd Simmons, OSU’s assistant vice president for university advancement.

“U.S. News & World Report is a measure. It has its positive points and its negative points for a university like OSU,” said Simmons, adding that OSU leaders are encouraged by the institution’s rankings improvements since last year’s guide.

Based on categories developed in 2000 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, U.S. News & World Report has identified 248 American universities that offer a variety of undergraduate majors, as well as master’s and doctoral degrees. OSU is among these “national universities.”

The institutions are evaluated on multiple indicators of academic quality, including average freshman retention rate, projected graduation rate, actual graduation rate, percentage of full-time faculty and new student acceptance rate.

The national universities are divided into a top tier, which ranks schools first through 124th, and third and fourth tiers that list universities alphabetically. This year, Princeton University is ranked number one, breaking a three-year tie with rival Harvard.

The University of Oregon is ranked 120th.

Rich Holdren, OSU senior associate vice president for research, thinks the rankings are useful as a benchmark, but questions some of the statistics used in scoring institutions.

OSU has more than twice the research enterprises of all the other state universities combined, and graduates exceptional, work-ready students, Holdren said.

It’s also one of only two land, sea, space and sun grant universities in the nation.

“I think we should be rated higher than we are,” he said.

The peer assessment score, which makes up 25 percent of the overall ranking, comes from a poll of university presidents and provosts — a “popularity contest,” Holdren noted.

Also, private universities on the East Coast have the cachet that helps them excel in the ratings game, he noted.

Simmons said OSU will never rival the Ivy League institutions on this ranking, in part because of its mission.

“We’re a public, land-grant institution whose mission is to provide access to the students of Oregon,” he said.

The top-tier universities, such as Princeton, Yale and Harvard, are more selective, admitting around 10 percent of applicants. OSU accepts 89 percent of those who apply, Simmons said.

Simmons is especially pleased with OSU’s improved peer assessment score, which reflects how other national universities view OSU. This year OSU earned 3 points out of 5, up from 2.9 last year.

Sixteen percent of alumni donate to OSU, up 2 percent from the number reported in the 2006 guide. Forty-two percent of classes have fewer than 20 students, a 4 percent increase over last year.

While 74 percent of classes at Princeton have fewer than 20 students, Simmons said that isn’t a reasonable goal for OSU, which doesn’t have the funding for such low student-teacher ratios.

OSU also experienced small gains in graduation rate, with 62 percent of its undergraduate students graduating within six years of enrolling. This is up 2 percent from last year.

Simmons noted that the U.S. News & World Report guide is just one of several ranking systems. Earlier this year, OSU was the only university in the state to receive the “very high research activity” designation by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Mary Ann Albright covers higher education. She can be reached at maryann.albright@lee.net or 758-9518.