Covering the business of education and training

US News & World Report has released their 2008 college ranking.

For the eighth straight year, the private New Jersey school, Princeton has claimed the top spot.

Numbers 2 and 3 are the same as well, Harvard then Yale.

The top 25 are as follows:

 1. Princeton University

 2. Harvard University

 3. Yale University(CT)

 4. Stanford University(CA)

 5. University of Pennsylvania

 5. California Institute of Technology

 7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 8. Duke University(NC)

 9. Columbia University(NY)

 9. University of Chicago

11. Dartmouth College(NH)

12. Washington University in St. Louis

12. Cornell University(NY)

14. Brown University(RI)

14. Northwestern University(IL)

14. Johns Hopkins University(MD)

17. Rice University(TX)

17. Emory University(GA)

19. Vanderbilt University(TN)

19. University of Notre Dame(IN)

21. University of California—Berkeley

22. Carnegie Mellon University(PA)

23. University of Virginia

23. Georgetown University(DC)

25. University of California—Los Angeles

The complete rankings can be found here.

The VP at KnowMoreMedia sent out an excellent list of questions in need of answers (to our network of writers) that perhaps readers here at TBOK or visitors to this post might weigh in on.

Issues:

1 - What importance does the US News college rankings have to US higher education?

2 - What effect do the US News college rankings have on the business of education?

3 - How do, or should, schools utilize their US News college ranking through marketing, PR, and advertising to strengthen their school’s brand?

4 - How does the US News college ranking help schools get better or worse students—help them attract customers?

5 - What about online colleges? Why are they never listed in the US News college ranking?

6 - The US News college rankings have come under recent fire by critics who want an alternate system. A growing number of universities are distancing themselves from these rankings. Why?

7 - What does the future hold for the US News college rankings?

8 - What about the international aspect of attending college in the US, the draw that US colleges have to foreign students? Do the US News college rankings make a difference?

Thoughts?  

More questions? 

In subsequent posts, I will give my two cents and hope for change. I will also post links to what other writers in our business network have to say.