U-CAN launched as alternate to U.S. News rankings
By: Angela To
Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: News
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After the University made the decision in June not to participate in the U.S. News & World Report college rankings, a new college comparison Web site has been developed for prospective students.
The University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN) Web site provides students and parents with statistical data for colleges and universities. Over 600 independent institutions are already taking part in this initiative. The Web site has over 440 institutional profiles published, and 150 additional profiles are expected to be published within the next week.
Executive Vice President Neal Abraham said U-CAN was created by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU). NAICU was influential in the decision made by a group of private liberal arts colleges to stop participating in what Abraham referred to as the "beauty contest" part of the U.S. News rankings.
Abraham said the University felt the rankings from the U.S. News and World Report were unreliable. He said U-CAN is different because the data is not based on the opinion of other institutions, offering credible information that will help students make their college decisions. Though the universities did not want to continue to rank other institutions, Abraham said schools still wanted prospective students to be able to easily compare colleges.
"We certainly believe in information that helps students, prospective students and their parents make informed choices about where they want to go to college," Abraham said. "So a group of us, a group of institutions, agreed to provide information in a standard format, which would be on our Web sites and therefore could be reflected on a central Web site."
U-CAN is free of charge and requires no log-in. With the click of a button, students and parents can browse through hundreds of schools and institutions. The Web site presents entirely statistical information, represented by charts and graphs. Data about admissions, student demographics, common fields of study and class size is available through the Web site.
The University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN) Web site provides students and parents with statistical data for colleges and universities. Over 600 independent institutions are already taking part in this initiative. The Web site has over 440 institutional profiles published, and 150 additional profiles are expected to be published within the next week.
Executive Vice President Neal Abraham said U-CAN was created by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU). NAICU was influential in the decision made by a group of private liberal arts colleges to stop participating in what Abraham referred to as the "beauty contest" part of the U.S. News rankings.
Abraham said the University felt the rankings from the U.S. News and World Report were unreliable. He said U-CAN is different because the data is not based on the opinion of other institutions, offering credible information that will help students make their college decisions. Though the universities did not want to continue to rank other institutions, Abraham said schools still wanted prospective students to be able to easily compare colleges.
"We certainly believe in information that helps students, prospective students and their parents make informed choices about where they want to go to college," Abraham said. "So a group of us, a group of institutions, agreed to provide information in a standard format, which would be on our Web sites and therefore could be reflected on a central Web site."
U-CAN is free of charge and requires no log-in. With the click of a button, students and parents can browse through hundreds of schools and institutions. The Web site presents entirely statistical information, represented by charts and graphs. Data about admissions, student demographics, common fields of study and class size is available through the Web site.
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