Lincoln (Neb.) - Aug. 30, 2000 - A new study from the Lombardi Program on Measuring University Performance includes the University of Nebraska-Lincoln among the ranks of "The Top American Research Universities."
Released in July, the University of Florida-based project assessed university and college research performance based on eight performance indicators:
- Federal research expenditures
- Endowment assets
- Annual giving
- Faculty members in national academies
- Faculty awards
- Doctoral degrees
- Postdoctoral appointees
- Entering freshmen SAT scores
The study evaluated these performance indicators and placed UNL on a list of 47 public universities that placed in the top 25 in one or more of the indicators. UNL placed in the top 25 in two categories: endowment assets and annual giving. This placed UNL on the same rank level as six other public institutions: Indiana University at Bloomington, Michigan State University, North Carolina State University , the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the University of California at Irvine and the University of Georgia. Institutions placing in one indicator category were listed below UNL. Private institutions were evaluated separately.
"No available data can accurately capture the totality of a university's quality and productivity," said the report. "No available indicator can measure the complete performance of these complex and diverse institutions. At the same time, some measures provide quite reliable indicators of institutional performance."
The report was well-received by the UNL administration because of the quality of the data and its refreshing approach that recognizes areas of excellence, officials said.
"It's pleasing to be placed among the top public research universities in this objective study, but it's also pleasing to have an exact measuring stick on where we stack up against our competition," said David Brinkerhoff, acting senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. "We have established benchmarks or goals for our research performance and measurements of quality on this campus, so it's good to see how we are doing compared to other larger institutions. There are areas, of course, where improvement is needed, and we will identify those, but it is good to see a comparison study that uses quality data and in which we excel."
In the 49-page report, its authors also seek to dispel myths of current popular rankings and define performance indicators that support the clustering of universities by quality.
"Universities that seek to rise into the ranks of the nation's elite research institutions need reliable measures of performance that will reflect their success in the competitive higher education marketplace," the report said.
Institutions were purposefully not "ranked" as in many popular publications, whose rankings fluctuations "generate the interests that sustains the process" and sells publications, the report said. Instead the analysis clusters groups of universities on their relative performance.
UNL's top 25 marks were earned on the financial side, in endowment (25th) and annual giving (seventh). Those numbers were included in the comparison criteria because, according to the report, "endowment represents a significant source of revenue in support of research and quality education, and ... the measures of private support identify the success of the university in persuading its various constituencies that is programs represent a good investment."
Of the other seven criteria measured, UNL ranked 50th in total research dollars, 66th in federal research dollars, 68th in national academy faculty numbers, 51st in faculty award numbers, 36th in number of doctorates granted, 64th in number of post-doctoral scholars, and 54th in freshman SAT scores.
The Lombardi Program on Measuring University Performance, based at The
Center at the University of Florida at Gainesville, is directed by John
V. Lombardi, president of the University of Florida from 1990-99, and now
a professor of history. The Center is a research enterprise focused on a
variety of projects in the humanities and social sciences, analyzing
topics of interest to the scholarly community.
Back to menu
For questions regarding these releases, contact:
tsimons1@unl.edu
(402) 472-8514, Fax: (402) 472-7825