Compare VT to these other universities

Emotive
Fri, 30 Jan 2015 02:39:09 +0000

You have raised several interesting points that worth further analysis and discussion, though I am not sure this forum is the right place for it.

Again, I am going to limit my comments to the academic work quality and rigor.

Overall, I agree with your analysis on how schools are generally ranked and what that means. Even though such rankings may be of use at the graduate level, it is of little significance for undergraduate education.

For undergraduate education what is central is its outcome! Do students learn properly and graduate from the program with the necessary competencies (problem solving, critical thinking, communication, teamwork,…) in their field of study? And, would they be able to pursue advance studies or secure desirable employment after graduation? This largely is a function of the ability of the teaching faculty to engage and direct undergraduates in meaningful learning activities. And then, the ability of the school to cultivate a strong relationship with the industry.

Given the nature of PhD-granting universities, faculty (research) excellence unfortunately does not translate into teaching excellence. In fact in many cases the reverse is true. Now if one can argue that university X is ranked higher than university Y in part because of the quality of its teaching faculty and the effectiveness of the curricula, then we have something.

I am confident, in time, we will be able to devise meaningful tools for measuring the success of undergraduate engineering programs based on what they actually produce (should be producing) competent graduates.