National Research Council ranks MU doctoral programs
The university earned rankings in 38 of 62 fields of study.
Published Oct. 5, 2010
The National Research Council has released its rankings of university doctoral programs for 62 fields of study.
According to a story from the Chronicle of Higher Education’s website, the NRC collected data from 5,000 doctoral programs in the nation at 212 universities.
MU made the rankings for 38 of the 62 fields, which fall under six broad academic areas, including agriculture, biology and health science, engineering, humanities, physical and mathematical sciences and social and behavioral sciences.
MU made the rankings for four of the six agriculture fields, nine of the 13 biology and health science fields, seven of the 10 engineering fields, six of the 14 humanities fields, five of the nine physical and mathematical science fields and seven of the 10 social and behavioral science fields.
“We’re know across the board as a really good college of engineering,” College of Engineering Dean Jim Thompson said.
MU’s doctoral engineering program was ranked in seven of the 10 of the possible fields encompassed under engineering, the most out of the six academic areas aside from social and behavioral sciences. Three focuses in engineering did not make the list, including aerospace engineering, engineering science and materials and materials science and engineering.
Thompson said the reason for that could be that the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering only offers a degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in aerospace engineering. Materials and science engineering is a very interdisciplinary area at MU, and a student cannot earn a degree in materials science but have to take courses in the other engineering disciplines.
“What’s maybe not so useful to perspective students and their parents about this NRC report is that the data is five years old,” Thompson said.
Thompson said that in his opinion, students would pay more attention to reports like the U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings when looking at academic programs because their information is more accessible to the general public.
Susan Wampler, director of external relations for the College of Engineering, said in an e-mail that the data in the NRC report is dated by the time it comes out, so it's not as relevant for perspective students.
“Our perception is that international students are more likely to be aware of the NRC report than (Missouri) students because they tend to look for research areas of focus,” said Wampler.
Thompson said the NRC’s report comes out once every decade, and MU and other college and universities have made a lot of improvements to their campuses and programs overall since the report looked at them five years ago.