Will Scandal Change How People View College Rankings?

A former leader of Temple University's business school was found guilty in late 2021 for sending false data to lift the school's rankings.

Moshe Porat was head of Temple's Fox School of Business and Management from 1996 until 2018. He worked with some employees to provide false information to U.S. News and World Report, a publication known for its rankings of American colleges.

The false information included the number of students who sent test scores, their school grades, and work experience. Based on the information, U.S. News gave the university's computer-based business degree program, known as an online MBA, the top ranking for four years ending in 2018. The publication also moved up Temple's part-time MBA program to seventh place in 2017.

U.S. Government lawyers said Porat boasted about these rankings to bring in more students and donations to the school. The number of students, they said, grew greatly in a few short years and rising rankings brought in millions of dollars.

On November 29, Porat was found guilty of charges related to sending false information "to defraud¹ the rankings system, potential students, and donors²."

Lower ranking

After news about the false information came out, the number of students in Temple's online MBA program dropped to just over 100. NBC News reported that the program had more than 330 students in 2017.

U.S. News and World Report also took Temple's online business program out of its rankings for a short time. It is now ranked 105th.

Ibrahim Fetahi was a student in Temple's online MBA program. He said he chose the program because of its high ranking. He said he felt as if he paid for a costly³ meal, but instead got something more like fast food. Fetahi added, "I will always have a scar⁴ on my resume⁵."

During the trial, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that one of Porat's lawyers argued Temple University itself was the real guilty party in the case. He said the school was occupied with rankings and even trained their employees on how to get higher rankings.

History of false rankings

In its coverage⁶ of the Temple case, the publication Inside Higher Ed listed several well-known universities that have admitted to providing false information. The schools are Villanova University's law school, Tulane University's business school, Claremont McKenna College, and Bucknell University.

The Temple case is different, however. Porat is believed to be the first university official who has been charged and found guilty of providing false information in college rankings.

Robert Morse oversees⁷ data for U.S. News and World Report. He said the publication counts on schools to send correct data. He told VOA that schools will be removed from the rankings if they send information that results in an "inflated⁸ rank."

"U.S. News takes cases of misreporting seriously. Our mission is to provide students with accurate, in-depth data to help them in their school search."

What to make of college rankings?

There are two important questions about rankings that come from the Temple case: Can students trust rankings? And how much weight should students give rankings when choosing a college?

Francie Diep writes about college rankings for The Chronicle of Higher Education. She said students should use rankings as only part of their college decision.

"There's also just a lot of things that are important to students that the U.S. News rankings don't measure. So, if the only thing you're looking at is the rankings, then you may not be, sort of, making the best choice for you depending on what things you want from college."

Ahead of rankings, Diep says students may want to consider the cost of attendance⁹, a sense of belonging at the school, and how much money they could earn after school. "That's one of the most important things for most families and that's not really captured in the rankings," she said.

Katie Burns is a college adviser¹⁰ for IvyWise. She works with both American and international students to help them pick the best college.

Burns said international students often want to choose a university people back home will know about, but American students are open to considering schools that are the best fit.

"The ranking systems are one tool, but they are not the end-all, be-all of your success. You need to have your own benchmark and system for evaluating what's a good fit for you."

Words in This Story

ranking – n. the position of something on a list

boast – v. to express too much pride in yourself or something you have

defraud – v. to trick or cheat someone or something in order to get money

potential – adj. capable of becoming real

party – n. a person who is involved in a legal case or contract

scar – n. a feeling of pain or sadness caused by a bad experience; a mark left on something where it has been damaged

resume – n. a document describing your education and work history

inflated – adj. increased to a level that is not proper or too large

accurate – adj. free from mistakes or errors

benchmark – n. something that can be used to judge the quality or level of other, similar things

1 defraud   

vt.欺骗，欺诈

参考例句：

• He passed himself off as the managing director to defraud the bank.他假冒总经理的名义诈骗银行。
• He is implicated in the scheme to defraud the government.他卷入了这起欺骗政府的阴谋。

2 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 scar   

n.伤疤，伤痕，创伤

参考例句：

• This scar is from the bite of a dog.这是狗咬后留下的伤疤。
• The tragedy left a scar on her mind.这个悲剧给她造成精神上的创伤。

5 resume   

v.（中断后）继续，恢复；n.摘要，简历

参考例句：

• We'll stop now and resume at two o 'clock.我们现在停下来，到两点再干。
• My resume shows that I have the right qualifications for the job.我的简历表明我正符合这项工作的条件。

6 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

7 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

8 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 attendance   

n.出席，出席人数，护理，照料

参考例句：

• The attendance of this class never dropped off.这个班的出席人数从未下降。
• The young man danced attendance on his rich aunt.这个年轻人小心侍候他有钱的姑妈。

10 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。