The Times Higher Education, a magazine that tracks the higher education market, recently published a ranking of the world’s top 100 universities based on their reputations, and while there were many American schools included, less than a third of them were Southern schools.
The list was compiled using the subjective opinions of senior, published academics around the world to demonstrate the “most powerful global university brands,” the Times Higher Education reported.
Forbes Magazine then republished the top 20 from the London-based Times Higher Education on Wednesday. Of the top 20, 13 were American institutions; Harvard, Princeton and Yale universities were in the top 10.
The few Southern schools on the list included Duke University, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, with Duke coming in highest at number 30.
No Louisiana schools made the cut, despite Tulane University’s being considered one of the “Magnolia League” or “Southern Ivy League” by many national ranking systems, or LSU’s number one overall rank in the state as published by The Daily Reveille using data from The White House College Scorecard.
History professor Aaron Sheehan-Dean said the scarcity of Southern schools among these type of rankings dates back to the 1890s.
During that time in United States history, higher education in the South was seriously underfunded while Northern institutions were growing, Sheehan-Dean said.
“I think in an international sense, there’s an even faster shorthand for what’s exceptional, which brings to mind these northeastern schools,” Sheehan-Dean said. “It’s clear from U.S. rankings though, that gap closed a long time go.”
Sheehan-Dean said the ranking from the Times Higher Education seemed to be unscientific, but shows that the perception of Northeastern schools as being the best is still prominent. He said the ranking likely had little to do with practical, instructional matters, but rather was about the schools’ reputations and what they are known for internationally.
LSU President F. King Alexander said people tend to revere the northern private schools, due to what he referred to as a “Northeastern mentality,” despite the schools being very high in cost for students.
Sheehan-Dean said this ranking perpetuates that mentality, even though it comes from subjective opinions.