Clemson grad programs move up in national rankings

Published: September 28, 2010

CLEMSON — The National Research Council’s third and most comprehensive assessment of more than 5,000 doctoral programs nationwide indicates that Clemson University’s improvement as a graduate institution is on par with its recent move up in the undergraduate rankings. Fifteen of Clemson’s doctoral programs rank among the top 50 among public universities.

Based on an analysis of 2006 data, the National Research Council’s (NRC) latest assessment is far more extensive than its last ratings, which were published in 1995. The new survey that was released Tuesday provides a massive amount of data and multiple rating methods on dozens of variables, including faculty productivity, student satisfaction, teaching and research training, diversity and funding.

“The NRC’s rating system provides a rigorous and thorough analysis of graduate programs using objective measures,” said Bruce Rafert, dean of the Graduate School at Clemson. “This landmark study provides a wealth of information that will help universities improve the quality of their graduate programs.”

While changes in methodology and the lack of numerical rankings make direct comparisons to the 1995 study difficult, Rafert said a preliminary examination of the data indicates that Clemson’s average graduate program ranking in the full group that included both public and private institutions improved from around 90th in 1995 to 70th today — or 45^th among doctoral-granting public institutions. The university had 23 programs that qualified to be rated this year compared to 14 in 1995 as more Clemson programs met the research council’s minimum participation threshold for the recent study period.

“Clemson is still fairly young as a graduate institution, but these ratings show that it is quickly maturing and becoming much more productive as a research university,” Rafert said.

According to the National Research Council’s “R.05” variable — essentially a rigorous statistical indicator that combines objective values of important program metrics with faculty ratings about the quality of programs in their fields — Clemson’s most highly ranked graduate programs, and their rank-order among public universities, were:

• Applied economics — 2
• Environmental engineering — 12
• Environmental toxicology — 17
• Entomology — 18
• Food science — 19

Other Clemson programs ranked in the top 50 among public universities were:

• Forestry and forest science — 25
• Bioengineering — 28
• Genetics — 37
• Chemical engineering — 39
• Mathematics — 44
• Chemistry — 45
• Microbiology — 46
• Industrial engineering — 45
• Plant science — 46
• Polymer and fiber — 50

“Our big doctoral engineering programs — civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and materials science — are right at the cusp of breaking into the ‘top 50 NRC doctoral publics’,” said Rafert. “I’m confident that they will achieve that level by the next NRC study in what is a nationally ultra-competitive environment, and, in fact, they may already have achieved the growth needed for that distinction in the four years that have passed from 2006 when the data acquisition by the NRC was closed.”

Rafert said the survey’s release is timely for Clemson, which is engaged in strategic planning to set goals and priorities for the next 10 years.

"The study will help Clemson analyze our strengths and weaknesses, identify areas needing improvement and set priorities for the future — based on direct objective comparison with every other doctoral institution in the United States,” he said. “The survey has many dimensions of data in addition to the reputational dimensions, including research, student outcomes and diversity. As the roles of graduate education and graduate research contribute more and more to discovery at the frontiers of knowledge and the global knowledge economy, it is critical that South Carolina continues to invest in excellence. We have been looking forward to seeing this data and are elated to have it at our fingertips."

Rafert added, “This is a highly complex and nuanced assessment. The results we are presenting today are just the first step in a deeply reflective analysis."

The National Research Council is a division of the National Academy of Sciences.

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