Truth, Lies and Rankings

Interesting article from Inside Higher Ed:

"Unlike novelists and playwrights, journalists tend to lead with the best material we’ve got. So here’s mine: In the controversy between U.S. News & World Report and Sarah Lawrence College, a college is alleging that a national magazine is making up data, so as to allow said magazine to continue conducting its university rankings. But in Canada, one of the country’s leading universities is making up data — in an attempt to prevent a national magazine from conducting university rankings. Readers of Inside Higher Ed were last week urged by Indira Samarasekera, the president of that university, the University of Alberta, to follow the Canadian lead. American university presidents might want to learn a bit more about what is actually going on in Canada before taking that advice."  [RJ]