By Matt Collette
Northeastern snuck up the 2008 U.S. News and World Report college ranking, though unlike last year when the University broke into the top 100, the administration remained rather tight-lipped about the jump.
The report listed Northeastern in the top tier of schools, at No. 96.
When Northeastern reached the top 100 national universities last year, it represented an end of former President Richard Freeland’s tenure at Northeastern. A major facet of his legacy was his work bringing Northeastern into the top-tier of American academia.
In an e-mail statement to The News, University spokesman Fred McGrail said, “The university’s goals are focused entirely on continually improving the quality of the academic and overall experience for our students, and on creating an environment where our faculty and students can conduct world class scholarship.”
McGrail said Northeastern’s efforts and improvements will be recognized in the many ranking published each year.
Last year, the administration began to address the future of Northeastern with the Academic Initiative. Last October, President Joseph Aoun began the project by asking what role universities should play in society and how Northeastern can excel in its role.
The Academic Initiative, which was approved by the board of trustees during the summer, began by focusing on four broader areas – creative, aesthetic and ethical dimensions; experiential learning; fundamental and transnational research; and urban and global dimensions – in order to advance the University’s standing on a broader level rather than focusing primarily on ranking.
While Northeastern is shifting its focus away from college ranking in order to cultivate a more dynamic university community, some small liberal arts schools are advocating a shift away from the ranking because they feel the ranking unfairly hurt some schools.
Wheelock College, a 1,000-student school that focuses largely on childhood education, removed the Best Colleges seal from its marketing material and website in early May.
Some students, however, said the ranking by US News and other publications were important in their decision to apply to, and ultimately attend, Northeastern.
“When I came to visit last year, they mentioned that the University and the [physical therapy] programs were ranked really high. That really had an affect on me,” said Jeff Lewis, a freshman physical therapy major.
Other Boston-area schools in U.S. News’ top tier are Harvard (2), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (7), Boston College (35) and Boston University (57).
