Exciting New Ranking for WPI

You all probably know that I am not a huge fan of rankings—too often they focus on the wrong things, like how many students a school turns away, or what student test scores are before they come to school—in other words, they aren’t well aligned with our values as an institution. 

This morning the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education (WSJ/THE) released their much-anticipated new rankings of the nation’s top universities and colleges. In addition to looking at statistics like graduation rates, research productivity and faculty-to-student ratios, they also surveyed 100,000 college students about their experience—including how collaborative and accessible their professors are, and whether they’d recommend their school to peers.

They sorted the results in many different ways, and one of the lists really stood out as being aligned with who WPI strives to be as an institution:  Schools that best combine research and teaching.  You all know this is something that we’ve been paying attention to. We want to be the place that figures out the right balance, the optimized integration, of education and research.  We strive to be a place that excels both in cutting-edge discovery and highly impactful teaching and learning.

Well, guess what?  In the WSJ/THE ranking of institutions that best combine research and teaching WPI is #1!!!  Let me say that again: WE’RE #1!!

You can access the The Wall Street Journal article “Great Research, Great Teaching” here.

Being named #1 in this area is most gratifying, and a special congratulations goes to our faculty who really make this possible. Long after they graduate, students recall working side-by-side with not just their team members, but with faculty advisors who are well known and highly respected contributors to their fields.

The goal of this ranking, WSJ/THE said, was to give a clearer picture of how higher education can have the most impact on young lives. These rankings were “driven entirely by what matters most to students and families.”  That’s what drives us, too, and that’s what makes this recognition such an honor.

My heartiest congratulations, and thanks, to our faculty and the entire WPI community that works every day to make the WPI experience such a rewarding one for our students and their families.

Way to go, WPI!