H. George Frederickson and Edmund C. Stazyk
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199573547
- eISBN:
- 9780191722677
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199573547.003.0004
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Public Management, Organization Studies
Approximately every three years US News and World Report publishes its rankings of master's degree programmes in public affairs. As part of its ‘America's best graduate schools’ series, the most ...
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Approximately every three years US News and World Report publishes its rankings of master's degree programmes in public affairs. As part of its ‘America's best graduate schools’ series, the most recent US News rankings of public affairs programmes appeared in 2008. Earlier rankings were published in 2004, 2001, 1998, and 1995. What were the intentions of those introducing these rankings, what form did the rankings take and what intended or unintended effects did they have? This chapter begins by considering the background, rationale, scope, and methodology of the US News ranking programme, and what those who introduced it intended and anticipated the rankings would do. It then describes a ‘general theory’ of academic rankings, setting out the book's findings in the context of that theory, and considering those findings in the light of what effects were anticipated or intended by those who introduced the rankings.Less
Approximately every three years US News and World Report publishes its rankings of master's degree programmes in public affairs. As part of its ‘America's best graduate schools’ series, the most recent US News rankings of public affairs programmes appeared in 2008. Earlier rankings were published in 2004, 2001, 1998, and 1995. What were the intentions of those introducing these rankings, what form did the rankings take and what intended or unintended effects did they have? This chapter begins by considering the background, rationale, scope, and methodology of the US News ranking programme, and what those who introduced it intended and anticipated the rankings would do. It then describes a ‘general theory’ of academic rankings, setting out the book's findings in the context of that theory, and considering those findings in the light of what effects were anticipated or intended by those who introduced the rankings.
