ABSTRACT

What does it mean to be ‘excellent’, particularly for the higher education institution? Without a definitive answer to that question, university rankings have become a proxy for quality and excellence. As such, higher education institutions are continually seeking ways to improve their rankings, with the implication being that these rankings measure which universities are most excellent. Upper administrators from public four-year higher education institutions in the United States were surveyed regarding their perceptions of factors they considered most important when assessing quality in the higher education institution. Respondents rated graduation and retention as the most important indicator of quality. Survey results were further compared to methodologies of the US News and World Report rankings, Times Higher Education World University Rankings and Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings and found that the perceived quality factors identified by survey respondents did not align with methodologies for any of these three rankings.

摘要

“优秀”是什么意思，尤其是对高等教育机构而言？如果没有对这个问题的明确答案，大学排名已成为质量和卓越的代表。因此，高等教育机构不断寻求提高排名的方法，这意味着这些排名衡量哪些大学最优秀。美国公立四年制高等教育机构的高层管理人员接受了调查，了解他们对评估高等教育机构质量时最重要的因素的看法。受访者将毕业和留校评为最重要的质量指标。调查结果进一步与美国新闻和世界报道排名的方法进行比较，