University administrators are gearing up for a National Research Council survey of the nation's top graduate programs that is akin to - but more widely respected than - the U.S. News & World Report rankings of undergraduate colleges.
The NRC survey "forms the touchstone by which one measures the graduate and research aspects of a university. ... It's very important, and we're taking it very seriously," said Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde. Its rankings are considered by anyone evaluating graduate programs, from faculty and prospective students to institutions giving research grants, she added.
The University will "live with the results for a long time," Bonde said, because the survey is conducted only about once every 10 years. It was last undertaken in 1995.
All of Brown's doctorate programs will be examined in the study of nearly all of the nation's major research universities. Each department will be ranked separately against peer programs at other universities, and the Grad School as a whole will be compared to other research universities.
Bonde said the study provides an opportunity for the University to show that improvements made to the Grad School under the Plan for Academic Enrichment have paid off.
The Plan called for more support for the Grad School by expanding the faculty by 100, providing students with health insurance and increased stipends and engaging in a fresh effort to attract more top-quality students.
"So much has changed that this is a real opportunity for us to highlight the growth in graduate education. Particularly with the Plan for Academic Enrichment, Brown's graduate admissions have grown - up 45 percent last year - and, most importantly, the selectivity for admission has greatly improved," Bonde said.
The exact methodology of the survey is not yet known - study committees are currently working out the details - but Bonde said it will be "an all-encompassing look at the University through its departments." Likely metrics include indicators of the quality of faculty teaching and research and a rating of the quality of graduate student life, taking into account the size of stipends and availability of health insurance, she said.
The study will be conducted in summer 2006, when professors and a sampling of graduate students from each university will be asked to complete questionnaires and universities will submit a wide range of data about their doctorate programs, Bonde said.
As part of the University's preparations for the NRC survey, the Office of Public Affairs and University Relations is working with departments to improve departmental Web sites.
"It's not just to put some frosting on the cake and make departments look interesting. It's to bring to prominence on the Web site ... the very central and important part research plays at a departmental level and a University level," Bonde said.
The NRC survey won't rank departmental Web sites, but the Web site improvements are a part of an effort to better communicate the strengths of the University's academic departments for NRC reviewers, prospective students and donors, Bonde said. "It's part of what a mature university does," she added.
A new version of the University's Web site is expected to launch this semester. Each department maintains its own Web site and is responsible for updating the content itself, with assistance from the public affairs office.
The NRC, along with the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engin-eering and Institute of Medicine, comprises the National Academies, a collection of congressionally commissioned private nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology and health policy analysis to the federal government.
