UC Berkeley Named Best Public University, But Administrators Downplay Importance of Rankings

UC Berkeley ranked again as the top public university in the nation according to the US News and World Report's college rankings released Friday, but university officials are skeptical about the value of the heavily-publicized rankings.

The university remains a steady 20th place among universities nationwide, up one from last year, sharing the spot with Georgia's Emory University.

Harvard and Princeton universities grabbed the top spot for the third straight year.

The national magazine also placed the university's undergraduate engineering and business programs in the top three, with engineering jumping one slot to second and business ranked third for the second year.

"Berkeley has been rated the number one public university in the nation, and worldwide we are also ranked the top in academics. We are very proud of that," said UC Berkeley spokesperson Marie Felde.

The criteria for the rankings, published since 1983, have received mixed feedback from university administrators and students.

Rankings are based on factors such as faculty resources, alumni giving, peer review, selectivity, retention and graduation rates, all data gathered through surveys filled out by university administrators.

"US News and World Report takes into account factors that are not directly related to the academic part of the university," Felde said, pointing to non-academic factors such as alumni donations, which carries 5 percent of the final tally.

The university instead looks at rankings such as the National Research Council rankings which zero in on academic rigor alone, she said.

Richard Lyons, acting dean for the Haas School of Business, agreed with Felde. He said UC Berkeley faculty and officials should look past rankings when looking to improve the institution overall.

"We are a highly placed public institution, but ‘best public' makes us turn away on making the school better," Lyons said. "We should not only be based on our brand and name recognition."

With business education expanding, the school could still look to improve its curriculum in the fields of of management, technology, entrepreneurship and innovation, he said.

But instead of relying on the annual list as a reflector of success, the university should focus more on the "distinctive intellectual qualities" and strengths that UC Berkeley students provide, he said.

The university's College of Engineering spokesperson Teresa Moore said though the college is "thrilled" to move up, there are concerns about how students interpret the rankings.

"I think they do the rankings to help the students and their families out on deciding a college. But what's more important is how students will take it seriously," Moore said. "The controversy is that sometimes the rankings are treated like the final word."

Though university officials remain skeptical over the released rankings, students in the undergraduate business and engineering programs say that annual rankings publicly reflect the quality of a program and compel students to apply.

"I think the ranking is wonderful for Haas. It's a really good school and should be up there," said third year Haas student Rebecca Han.

Han said she chose Haas not only for the ranking, but also for the school's "tradition and reputation that makes it respectable."

Fourth year engineering major Jui-Shan Hsu, who will serve as president for the Engineers' Joint Council this fall, said she is glad to hear that the engineering program ranks with leading private institutions, including a shared number two spot with Stanford University.

Though being a public institution creates hurdles for the university, the high ranking is an indicator of just how strong the program is, she said.

"The fact that we have not that much resources compared to other schools, but we perform academically well, it means a lot," Hsu said.

Top Public Universities

1. UC Berkeley

2. Univ. of Virginia

3. UCLA

Univ. of Mich.-Ann Arbor

5. Univ. of N.C.-Chapel Hill

Top Engineering Programs

1. Mass. Inst. of Technology

2. Stanford University

UC Berkeley

4. Calif. Inst. of Technology

U. of Ill.-Urbana-Champaign

Top Business Programs

1. Univ. of Pennsylvania

2. Mass. Inst. of Technology

3. UC Berkeley

Univ. of Mich.-Ann Arbor

Source: US News and World Report

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