Francie Diep

Mar 2, 2023

Are We Done with Higher Education Rankings?

A Discussion with Francie Diep

New Books Network 2023

Why do most of the institutions of higher education in the United States participate in a rankings system? What do the rankings do? And what does it mean when some schools refuse to participate in rankings? This episode explores:

  • How and why the ranking system got started.
  • Who creates the ranking.
  • Why the statics and data collected for it aren’t neutral or even necessarily accurate.
  • What the rankings mean to prospective students, their families, and even alumni.
  • Why some schools might have to stay in the ranking system, even as more schools are refusing to participate.

Our guest is: Francie Diep, who is a senior reporter covering money in higher education for The Chronicle of Higher Education. She joined The Chronicle in 2019. Previously, she spent a decade covering health and science, including funding for academic labs, for publications including Pacific Standard, Popular Science, Scientific American, and The New York Times. She received her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California at Los Angeles and her master’s in journalism from New York University.

Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.

Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:

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Christina Gessler

Dr. Christina Gessler holds a PhD in U.S. history.
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