MU ranks No. 91 in national report

MU’s rank in the report has dropped 18 spots in four years

By Michelle Hagopian

Published April 11, 2008

U.S. News and World Report ranked MU No. 91 in its annual list of the top 125 colleges and universities.

MU’s ranking in the report has dropped 18 spots since 2004. Last year, MU ranked No. 88 in a list of 120 schools.

MU is tied with three other schools: The University of Alabama, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Tulsa in Oklahoma.

Robert Morse, U.S. News and World Report director of data research, said MU’s three-rank drop isn’t one of concern.

“Moving three places is moving about one percent in the ranking, which is basically just annual fluctuation,” he said.

But he said MU’s 18-spot drop since 2004 is more meaningful.

“A drop that large could signal a downward turn in the ranking,” he said. “It’s nearly a 10 percent decrease.”

He said MU ranks in the doctoral granting research category, which has about 250 national universities total.

“About half of the schools are numerically ranked, as Missouri is, and the other half are in the third and fourth tiers of the category,” Morse said.

He said a variety of factors are considered in creating the report, including acceptance and graduation rates, faculty salaries and resources and student-faculty ratios.

The schools are then compared based on their data, and the colleges with the highest scores are ranked in numerical order.

Morse said data is collected in early March for publication in late August every year.

At an April 4 meeting of the Board of Curators, the UM system’s governing body, UM system President Gary Forsee said the report is an important one.

“It’s a prestigious equation that’s seen by students and their families and it’s used in lots of different public forums,” he said.

He said it’s one of many tools the UM system uses to measure MU’s performance.

“There are many yardsticks out there that we use to measure our progress to other universities,” he said.

The report also showed many institutions’ funding increased while enrollment rates decreased. MU’s enrollment count has increased, Forsee said.

“Our numbers for student-faculty ratios have changed as a result of enrollment increase,” he said.

He said MU ranks in the bottom tier in the faculty salaries category.

MU has maintained a high six-year graduation rate despite experiencing a difficult financial period since 2004.

The Board of Curators must decide which points to strengthen for the future, Forsee said.

“What we need to measure in the next few years is what is necessary to drive this university to more progress,” he said. “We need to pick the things we want to pay attention to.”

MU Provost Brian Foster said though the validity of the report has been questioned, what it measures is more important.

He said some of the factors the report uses for its data don’t always match with what MU tries to accomplish.

“As a university, we try to be responsive to the needs of the state of Missouri,” Foster said. “We seek to serve the people and our goals won’t always align well with the report.”

He said student admission rates have contributed to MU’s drop in the ranking because it accounts for 15 percent of the school’s score. This selectivity number is irrelevant for MU because students know ahead of time what is necessary for admission to the university, Foster said.

“We publish what the criteria are for admission so students know what to expect when they apply,” he said. “We’re very transparent in that respect.”