SRU featured in Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education rankings

Sept. 6, 2018

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -Slippery Rock University has once again been featured as among the best national colleges and universities in the 2019 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings. The WSJ/THE rankings include a total of 968 institutions nationwide.

Developed in partnership with U.S. experts and universities, the rankings adopt a balanced scorecard approach. WSJ/THE uses 15 individual performance metrics, grouped into four pillars representing:

• Resources (30 percent)
Does the college have the capacity to effectively deliver teaching?
Within this pillar is:
o Finance per student
o Faculty per student
o Research papers per faculty

• Engagement (20 percent)
Does the college effectively engage with its students? Most of the data in this area is gathered through THE's student survey.
Within this pillar is:
o Student engagement
o Student recommendation
o Interaction with teachers and students
o Number of accredited programs

• Outcomes (40 percent)
Does the college generate good and appropriate outputs? Does it add value to the students who attend?
Within this pillar is:
o Graduation rate
o Value added to graduate salary
o Value added to the loan default
o Academic reputation

• Environment (10 percent)
Is the college providing a learning environment for all students? Does it make efforts to attract a diverse student body and faculty?
Within this pillar is:
o Proportion of international students
o Student diversity
o Student inclusion
o Staff diversity

SRU, which was ranked in the 601-800 band, registered its strongest pillars in Outcomes and Engagement.

Data sources include the THE U.S. Student Survey, the THE Academic Reputation Survey, along with public data from IPEDs, the College Scorecard and the Federal Student Aid on areas including completion rates and graduate employment.

THE's student survey captured key milestones in a student's educational journey with their institution, covering motivation, engagement with learning, career impact and satisfaction and value. The 2019 instrument contained 12 core questions, framed by demographic questions to capture the students' background and degree status.

"The goal of the WSJ/THE college rankings is to offer context and insight needed to help make an informed college choice," said Dave Pettit, editorial ventures editor at The Wall Street Journal. "We focus on the factors critically important to parents and students ... finding the right college can have lifelong implications."

"The decision of which college to attend is one of the most important a person will make," said Phil Baty, editorial director for global rankings at Times Higher Education. "The WSJ/THE ranking places young people and their families front-and-center, with student success and learning at its core. The trusted listing is built around a huge survey of nearly 200,000 current student voices, providing their own insights, view of teaching, learning and life on campus. It offers a rounded and practical understanding of the strengths of individual institutions and the lifelong value of a degree."

MEDIA CONTACT: Robb King | 724.738.2199 | robert.king@sru.edu