The Pursuit of Prestige

The annual National Survey on Student Engagement was released today, effectively carrying on its tradition as a counterpoint to the obsession so many institutions have with national and global rankings.

This year's report title says it all, highlighting "The Imperative to Look Within." According to the study, "90 percent of the variation in undergraduate education quality occurs within institutions, not between them." Hence the call for universities and colleges to abandon the potentially misleading rankings and to instead focus on their students.

The timing of this call is perfect. It comes on the heels of another study, released just this past Saturday, which indicates that chasing rankings may actually weaken institutions. Like NSSE (or "Nessie"), the study goes on to argue that universities "should focus on carrying out their basic missions and improving their academic offerings".

Thus we see that Nessie's counterpoint is one of perspective: institutional priorities can be based on views from within or from without. And studies demonstrate that there is a wrong choice.