UH 'at rock bottom,' Dobelle says of survey
• Full rankings by U.S. News and World Report
By Yasmin Anwar
Advertiser Staff Writer
The University of Hawai'i-Manoa barely made the grade in a national magazine's annual rating of America's colleges, while Brigham Young University-Hawai'i scored high among the best comprehensive colleges in the Western states.
Breaking with the genteel tradition of emphasizing a low-ranking institution's strengths and unique offerings, UH President Evan Dobelle acknowledged that the University of Hawai'i had done poorly in the U.S. News & World Report survey.
"We're at rock bottom," Dobelle said, in a prepared statement. "It's obvious our reputation has suffered, and we will do everything we can to improve wherever we can for the benefit of our faculty and students."
Once again, Princeton University in New Jersey topped the magazine's list of the nation's best universities, released yesterday, with Harvard and Yale tied for second place.
UH-Manoa's position among its peers remained stuck in the third tier of 249 national universities. There was no specific rating among that group but Manoa came somewhere between 131st and 187th place. The university scored 2.6 out of 5 possible points for "reputation," a category reflecting the university's esteem among academics and administrators.
The university made the list of 148 universities in U.S. News & World Report's "best business program" category, but ranked lowest in the group at 130, tied with 18 other institutions.
In 1996, it ranked among 50 universities offering the best college value. This year, it did not make the list.
UH-Manoa did score well in some categories. It ranked 16th among universities whose graduates carry the least amount of debt for their education. In academic year 2000-2001, UH-Manoa had an 80 percent freshman retention rate, a 54 percent graduation rate and a 12-1 student-faculty ratio.
Meanwhile, UH-Hilo, ranked last year as the third-best liberal arts college in its regional category, moved to the fourth tier in a new nationwide category for liberal arts colleges.
Evaluations are based on academic reputation, financial resources, full-time faculty, graduation rate, student retention and class sizes, among other criteria. Because the methodology changes somewhat each year, it is difficult to make direct comparisons.
Local college officials pay attention to the ratings, but point out that there's more to evaluating a college than statistical measures.
"Any college that makes it to the top of the list takes it very seriously, but the ratings are only snapshots. They don't tell the whole story," said Brother Bernard Ploeger, executive vice president and provost of Chaminade University.
Chaminade University was placed in the fourth tier of the Western region's universities offering master's degrees. It ranked among the Western colleges with the most diversity, the highest number of international students and the highest proportion of classes with under 20 students.
Hawai'i Pacific University has the second most international students among Western universities offering master's degrees, at 25 percent. It was ranked in the third tier of such universities.
Officials for Brigham Young University-Hawai'i were pleased to see that their North Shore institution ranked fourth of the best Western comprehensive colleges offering bachelor's degrees. It also has the most international students — 38 percent — of the colleges in that category.
Overall, Brigham Young scored 77 out of 100, with 3.7 out of 5 points for academic reputation. There are fewer than 20 students in 43 percent of its classes and its student-faculty ratio in 2000 was 15-1.
Brigham Young's president, Eric B. Shumway, credited the "spiritual and moral environment" of the university for its success. Founded in 1955, the institution is part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has about 2,200 undergraduate students from 60 countries.
