Beyond the Ivy: What Actually Makes a College ‘Prestigious’

Authors: Kelly Cheng (Project Lead), Colin Sohn, Andrew Lu, Susie Kim, Madeleine Curran

usnews.com

When people think of a prestigious college, names like Harvard, Stanford, and MIT often come to mind. These schools are synonymous with academic excellence, influential alumni, and world-class resources. But what actually makes a college prestigious? Is it just the name and history, or do factors like research output, faculty expertise, and networking opportunities play a bigger role? Beyond the ivy-covered walls, prestige is shaped by a combination of reputation, selectivity, and long-term impact. Understanding these elements can help students look beyond rankings and determine what truly matters in their college experience.

Breaking Down the Data: What Actually Drives College Rankings?

Accurately ranking universities is impossible, as what makes one institution better or more prestigious than another depends on subjective opinions about which aspects of a university are most important. Consequently, because certain factors may change per individual, when looking at a ranking site it is important to know which factors they value and how they affect the rankings. Regarding the Times Higher Education ranking, the rankings are positioned based on an overall score which is calculated through an accumulation of different scores like teaching, research, citations, etc. Below is a heat map showing the correlation between the different scores, with a focus on how each one contributes to the overall score in the first column.

Research scores show the highest correlation with the overall ranking at 0.95, indicating that research performance plays the most significant role in a university’s ranking. Teaching scores also have a high correlation of 0.89, reflecting the importance of academic reputation and learning environment. Meanwhile, citation scores, which measure research impact, have a moderate correlation of 0.43, suggesting that although impactful research is important, it is not as influential as overall research performance. Industry income and international outlook show lower correlations of 0.23 and 0.26, respectively, implying that while these factors contribute to rankings, they carry less weight.

The Research Effect: Why It Matters So Much

In 2023, the Times Higher Education published its World University Ranking utilizing 13 calibrated performance indicators to rank over 1,800 universities in 104 countries. The organization analyzed various features of research institutions to measure five areas: teaching, research, citations, international outlook, and industry outcome.

In calculating the weighted values of each category, the analysis in 2023 revealed that the research score, a value ranging from 0 to 100, contributed to 30% of the overall ranking of each university.

Further distributed into three units of measure, the research score takes the weighted results from the Times Higher Education’s annual Academic Research Survey (18%), research income (6%) and research productivity (6%) to evaluate a standardized rating for each university. To further establish a relationship between a university’s research score and their overall ranking, we constructed a bar graph that provides insight on the top 50 institutions as ranked by the Times Higher Education.

Each bar represents the average research score of every group of 5 universities, the measure we will be using to compare against the overall rank. We can see the downward trend of average research scores for each group of institutions, beginning from a maximum of 97.7 for the top 5 universities and a minimum of 67.38 for the 41st to 45th ranked schools.

To grasp a better understanding of the relationship between these two variables, we model a line of best fit from the bar graph. The slope of -3.18 indicates that for every group of 5 universities, the average research score decreases by over 3. These results suggest that generally, the research reputation among its peers are significantly greater for higher ranked universities.

The correlation coefficient of -0.95 also suggests the strong, negative linear relationship between university ranking and their performance in research. The correlation between these two factors is subjective to the effects of individual factors, such as the school’s prestige which contributes to success in influencing a bigger audience.

Teaching vs. Research: The Academic Tug-of-War

It’s a student’s age-old complaint: my professor is only valued for their research, but has no actual teaching skills. A 1958 article by Colgate University President George B. Cutten asserted this same point: “probably the poorest contemporary teaching is to be found in our colleges”. But how important is teaching ability really to a university’s rank and level of prestige? Research output often seems to be prioritized when considering a professor for tenure due to academia’s goal of advancing knowledge within a field, the notoriety that comes with having a faculty member with famous publishings and of course the grant funding usually tied to productivity. However, some universities advertise their “teaching-only” faculty, a group dedicating 100% of their work time to supporting students. Some professors drop in to teach a single class while maintaining a full time job, while others estimate spending 75% of their time teaching and only 25% pursuing research endeavors. Which method actually leads to a better education, and which skill set do universities care more about?

We can see that there is noticeably less dispersion in the scatterplot showing university rank as a function of the research score as opposed to the plot showing teaching scores. This implies a stronger association between research scores and rank as opposed to its teaching counterpart. Although both factors are strongly correlated with rank, we can hypothesize that a university’s research output ultimately factors more strongly into its prestige.

Smaller Classes, Smarter Choices? Student-to-Faculty Ratio Explained

The student-to-faculty ratio is often regarded as an important metric in evaluating the quality of education at universities worldwide. A lower student-to-faculty ratio suggests greater access to faculty, better mentorship opportunities, and a more personalized learning environment, all of which contribute to a university’s academic standing. We can examine the relationship between student-to-faculty ratio and university ranking to identify trends and patterns among the world’s top universities.

To analyze this relationship, we utilized data from the top 100 universities and examined how the student-to-faculty ratio correlates with their global ranking.

The data suggests a clear negative correlation between the student-to-faculty ratio and university ranking. Higher-ranked universities (lower numerical ranking) tend to have smaller student-to-faculty ratios. The scatter plot clearly illustrates that elite universities (e.g., Harvard, MIT, and Oxford) benefit the most from low ratios, while institutions with higher ratios experience diminishing effects.

This analysis confirms that the student-to-faculty ratio plays a role in university rankings, with elite universities maintaining lower ratios. However, since the R² value remains relatively low, other factors (such as research output and industry income) likely contribute significantly to ranking outcomes.

Global Leaders in Higher Ed: Which Countries Rank the Highest?

When it comes to higher education, some countries dominate the global rankings, consistently producing top-tier universities that drive innovation and research. But, which nations dominate the rankings, and how do U.S. colleges compare?

To better understand the global distribution of top-ranked universities, we created a bar plot showcasing the top five countries with the most institutions in the top 100. From the visualization, we observe that the United States leads by a significant margin, and is followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, China, and Australia. These countries consistently invest into their higher education through substantial research funding, emphasis in high-quality teaching, and focus on international collaboration. Their excellence within these areas enables their universities to maintain high rankings year after year, solidifying their positions as global leaders in academia.

Let’s take a closer look at the highest ranking country, the United States, and explore the factors that contribute to its universities’ strong performance.

In this radar chart, we explore the average scores across various factors within U.S. universities. These include:

• Industry Income: measures how much a university earns from industry partnerships, including funding for research, patents, and commercial innovations
• International outlook: examines the proportion of international students and faculty, as well as global research collaborations
• Citations: measures how frequently its academic publications are cited by other authors researchers
• Research: evaluates the quality, volume, reputation of a university’s research output
• Teaching: assesses the quality of education provided by an institution
• Overall: the combined score of all evaluated factors

We can see that the United States universities score well in industry income, citations, and industry outlook, but are relatively weaker in teaching and research scores. While U.S. universities continue to lead in research impact and industry collaborations, they face challenges in teaching effectiveness, research funding, and international engagement. Studies indicate that students at U.S. institutions score lower than their global peers in literacy and math, raising concerns about teaching methodologies. Additionally, reductions in federal research funding may hinder their research contributions. Furthermore, the decline in international student enrollment in U.S. universities contrasts with the growing international appeal of institutions in Europe and Asia, which could impact the global standing of American universities over time.

How does UCLA compare?

UCLA outperforms the U.S. national average across all key ranking factors, which is a testament to its excellence in higher education and its place as the #1 public university within the United States. (Go Bruins!) The university particularly excels in research and citations, being ranked #15 for research within the nation. However, one area UCLA is weaker in is its teaching and faculty resources, as the school faces challenges in larger class sizes compared to private institutions. Despite this, its overall academic strength, research impact, and industry collaborations ensure that UCLA remains a leader in higher education. With its higher performance across all factors, UCLA continues to be a powerhouse in higher education, both nationally and globally.

Overall, university prestige is shaped by multiple factors, including student-to-faculty ratio, research output, teaching quality, and industry collaborations. While research scores have the strongest correlation with rankings, other elements like citations and international engagement also play a role. Countries like the U.S. dominate global rankings, but shifting trends may impact their standing.

Ultimately, prestige is subjective — students should look beyond rankings and consider what best aligns with their academic and career goals. True prestige lies not just in reputation but in the lasting impact a university has on its students and the world.