My last startup was in higher ed, and the stories about manipulating ranking are amazing. Everybody knows what goes into the rankings, and everybody manipulates the inputs.
As an example, one of the inputs is percentage of alumni who donate. So one large school has a gigantic push every year to get just one dollar from every alumni that they can. I actually sat in on a seminar where somebody from the university broke down all the bizarre things they were doing with admission, freshman retention, alumni relations, and so-on, just to game US News and World Reports.
As an example, one of the inputs is percentage of alumni who donate. So one large school has a gigantic push every year to get just one dollar from every alumni that they can. I actually sat in on a seminar where somebody from the university broke down all the bizarre things they were doing with admission, freshman retention, alumni relations, and so-on, just to game US News and World Reports.