September 1, 2006

U.S. News & World Report released its annual rankings of undergraduate College programs last week, and once again UC Berkeley was named the best public university in the nation. Overall, according to the magazine's criteria, our campus came in tied for No. 21. Our College of Engineering was ranked 2nd in the nation, tied with Stanford and just behind MIT.  U.S. News's rankings and criteria have spawned a host of critics over the past few years, as well as a slew of alternative rankings.

You may have missed a new ranking from Washington Monthly magazine. Two years ago this magazine, which acknowledges its left-of-center orientation, developed a new system that uses a unique set of criteria. Editors acknowledged that parents and students want to know that their hard-earned tuition dollars are being well spent, but they also raised the point that taxpayers should also know that their money -- in the form of billions of dollars in research grants and student aid -- is also being put to good use. So they asked the question, what schools are best benefiting our nation? The indicators they used were:

• Research: How does an institution foster scientific and humanistic research? What is its total research spending, Ph.D.s granted in science and engineering?
• Community Service: How does the college promote an ethic of service to the country, such as, the number of students in ROTC, Peace Corps, etc.
• Social mobility: How does it provide opportunities for individuals to improve themselves?  For example, what is the percentage of, and support for, Pell Grant recipients?

Under these criteria, schools traditionally ranked high did not do well at all. Only two, Stanford and MIT, finished in the top ten. Princeton and Harvard, the top schools on the US News list, finished 43rd and 28th respectively.

How did Berkeley do? Well, with our strong tradition of education, research, and service we ranked 2nd, just behind MIT. Indeed the whole UC system ranked much higher when factors such as community service and social advancement were weighted along with research.  While this study is certain to be controversial in many circles, it confirms our own commitment here at the College of Engineering to “educating leaders, creating knowledge, and serving society.”

A. Richard Newton
Dean, College of Engineering and
the Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering