Concern
According to the US News Ranking, over the past 6 years WSU has dropped from 140 to 212 (140 (2018), 140, 166, 176, 179, 212 (2023). We are now last in the PAC 12 (closest is Oregon State at 151). University of Idaho is ranked 176. Other schools tied at 212 include University of Missouri, Lipscomb Univ (Nashville), Kent State Univ, Bethel Univ and Ball State Univ. I am the director of the graduate programs in the Dept of Mathematics and Statistics, and know that international students (especially from China and South Korea) look at rankings before deciding where to apply. We were starting to develop collaborative degrees with a university in Uzbekistan, but they will only send (funded) graduate students to universities that have a world ranking of 300 or below, and we are now above 300 (302 as of 2022 rankings by US News World; 351-400 Times Higher Education). I would like to know:
- What metrics caused WSU to drop so much in one year (tuition cost? faculty to student ratio? retention?) and
- Who is responsible for not averting this severe drop in our ranking.
Lynn Schreyer
Mathematics & Statistics
Response
WSU’s Office of Institutional Research has conducted an analysis to understand why WSU’s US News and World Report ranking has dropped. They identify three reasons: 1) Graduation rate: US News looks at the difference between predicted and actual graduation rate. Although our actual graduation rate went up, the difference between predicted and actual rates increased, thus hurting our ranking on this item. 2) Peer Opinion: US News add schools to the rankings which may have contributed to a drop in peer opinion. 3) Faculty Resources: WSU reported Career Track salaries for the first time. This lowered our average reported salary, leading to a drop in this item.
For more information see the summary of IR’s findings (PDF). In that document is a link to more detailed information about the factors in the rankings and WSU’s data.
Christine Horne
Faculty Senate Chair
International students prefer a more prestigious ranking of the university. Given that US news allows some regional universities added to the national ranking, even Seattle University(famous for its Law majors) has a better ranking than WSU. So the answer is obvious.
Not only international students, based on surveys, high school students are increasingly dependent on ranking to choose colleges.
Aside from the title, the original comment points out a continuous decline in rankings since 2019 totaling 72 levels (140 for 2019 to 212 for 2023), with 33 of those 72 levels lost in the latest round. 72 is more than half of 140. This suggests causes of our slide may be more chronic in nature. The longer term drop is not addressed in the Response.
If you navigate to the linked IR memo and scroll to the second to last paragraph, you will find a protected link that will take you to more information, including WSU data for the 2019-2023 editions of the US News & World Report rankings.