After moving into the top tier of universities last year, Northeastern continued its ascent in the U.S. News and World Report, moving up five places in the annual ranking of best colleges. The university is now placed at 115, moving closer to President Richard Freeland’s ultimate goal of the top 100.
“I was thrilled that we had that result,” President Freeland said.
He wasn’t originally confident Northeastern would make the jump because “our increases have not been so dramatic” as last year, when the university moved from 127 to 120 in the rankings.
Freeland said much of the improvement results from the academic investment plan, now about halfway completed, which is adding 100 tenured and tenure-track faculty members to the university.
“I’ve got to believe that that’s a part of it,” he said. “It’s very gratifying to me.”
Other factors contributing to Northeastern’s overall score of 41, up two points from last year, include a graduation rate of 60 percent, consistent with last year’s percentage. The SAT bracket is up 10 points to 1120-1310, the freshman retention rate is up two percent to 86 percent, and the acceptance rate has lowered from 47 percent to 42 percent.
Although Northeastern was rated a 3.0 out of 5.0 for academic reputation in the 2004 rankings, the university fell to 2.9 this year. The school has set a goal to reach an academic reputation rating of 3.1.
Freeland, who made breaking into the top 100 one of the primary goals of his presidency, said the university expects to achieve that aim by August 2008, when the U.S. News and World Report releases its 2009 rankings. He said while being a top 100 university is symbolically appealing, he mostly wants to be far enough into the list of top universities so there is no question whether Northeastern is a top-tier school.
In order to push the university further forward, Freeland said he has set goals for increased alumni relations, community relations and the completion and approval of the institutional master plan, Northeastern’s proposal for future construction. Deciding what needs the most attention has always been difficult.
“One of the hardest things for me has been figuring out what to invest in to move the institution forward,” Freeland said.
Future changes in the U.S. News and World Report’s ranking system could also benefit Northeastern in next year’s report, said Mark Putnam, director of university planning. Currently, Northeastern is hurt on the ranking of expenditure per student, because students who are on co-op and are not paying tuition are still counted as full-time students. This does not show that Northeastern truly has more money to spend on fewer students, Putnam said. If U.S. News and World Report chooses to take into account a school’s co-op program, Northeastern would receive a boost.
Although the university continues to aspire for higher rankings, Putnam said it isn’t just about numbers.
“To get to the top 100, there are certainly things we’re continually working on, because it’s good for the university,” he said. “But we do them because it’s the right thing to do. The university improves, and it naturally carries Northeastern into the top 100.”
