Villanova reclassified as national university

O

otis

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A Message From
Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD
President of Villanova University
_____________________________________________​

February 3, 2016

Dear Alumni, Parents and Friends,

Five years ago, I traveled to 30 cities, logged more than 42,000 miles and talked to thousands of Villanovans across the globe to share the Strategic Plan, which would guide our great University through the next decade. It is an ambitious plan designed to help navigate the challenges of a rapidly evolving higher education landscape, while remaining true to our Augustinian values and traditions.

To date, I am incredibly proud of our progress, and I would like to take this opportunity to share some highlights.

** We continue to attract high-achieving students, with record-breaking numbers for undergraduate applications for the past several years.

** We have impressive student outcomes with strong job and graduate school placement rates, and we were recently recognized by The Economist for being among the top three institutions in the U.S. for the value of a degree.

** We have rejuvenated physical spaces with the transformation of the campus landscape and have begun work on the long-anticipated South Lancaster Project, which will create a premier living and learning environment for students, highlighted by new residence halls and a state-of-the-art Performing Arts Center.

** We have also made significant headway on the "Villanova Campaign to Ignite Change," reaching 85% of our $600 million goal a little more than two years after its public launch.

Another exciting milestone occurred this week, when the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which administers the official classification system for all U.S. colleges and universities, announced that it has elevated Villanova to the Doctoral Universities category from the Master's Colleges and Universities category. This is a noteworthy moment for Villanova because U.S. News & World Report uses the Carnegie Classification for its annual "Best Colleges" ranking.

As many of you know, for the past 23 years Villanova has been ranked by U.S. News as the #1 Regional University in the North. While this is a wonderful acknowledgement of the strength of our academic programs, labeling Villanova as a regional university does not accurately reflect the breadth and depth of our academics and achievements. Villanova is a national university, with nationally prestigious academics, nationally funded research, a nationally recognized athletics program and national reach. In terms of academic reputation, it is important for us to be associated with other nationally ranked universities.

As a result of our new classification, Villanova will be ranked for the first time this fall in the "National Universities" category alongside the most prestigious and well-respected universities in the country. Being formally recognized as a national university is something that all Villanovans should be incredibly proud of, but it does not change who we are as a University. We remain steadfastly committed to academic excellence, to our Augustinian values and to preparing our students to create positive change wherever life takes them.

These traditions are at the heart of Villanova, and even with all the changes over the past few decades, they remain constant. They are what unite and define the Villanova community, and they speak volumes about the unique experiences students can expect to have when they join us on campus, and long after they graduate.

These are exciting times for Villanova, and I hope you feel enormous pride in being a Villanovan. I look forward to celebrating this next chapter with you, as we continue to innovate, have an impact and ignite change.

Sincerely,
Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD
President of Villanova University
 
For those paying attention, this is big news for Villanova, and something they've been working on diligently for the past several years. It's not clear to most students and parent what comprises a national university, but having more doctoral programs and doctoral graduates is one of them. Even ranked as the #1 regional university in the Northeast, many top students opted for Boston College and Georgetown (two of their top rivals in cross applications), both of whom are highly ranked national universities.

Rankings of national universities has an important effect on the caliber of student that a school attracts. In the top 30 are some of the most prestigious universities in the country - each ivy league school, MIT, Stanford, Duke, University of Chicago, MIT, Vanderbilt, Norte Dame, Georgetown, and others. NYU and Boston College reside just above 30. For universities, a top ranking is a self fulfilling prophecy - students want to attend the best universities, and in doing so, help maintain that school as a top university. For years, Villanova wanted to compete for those students, but were nowhere to be found on the lists of the top national universities. My guess is that they will enter this list somewhere between a 35 and 45 ranking, with their sites set on the top 30. They already feel that they are as good or better than BC, but in terms of entrance requirements alone, that probably is more of an aspiration than reality.

I believe JSJ posted an article last year about how Northeastern University in Boston engineered a dramatic rise in the national rankings by analyzing ranking critters and improving in each of those areas, all without dramatically improving the quality of education they offered. It did have a dramatic impact on the quality of student they attract, and although long thought to be far inferior to their cross town rival Boston University, now with a ranking somewhere around 50 (BU is somewhere around 42 or 43), they now attract a comparable quality of student.

It all goes to show that national rankings have to be viewed with some degree of skepticism, but rankings are a high stakes game that have an incredible impact on the quality of student they attract. For example, Boston Colleges top ten cross application schools include the 8 Ivy league schools and Villanova (for obvious reasons - geographic and Catholic based). Villanova's cross application is not nearly as impressive, but a high national ranking will change that.

To some, with good reason, it's all nonsense to a degree. The reality is, though, that there is intense completion for the nation's very best students, and the reclassification of Villanova as a national university will help them considerably in this quest.
 
For those paying attention, this is big news for Villanova, and something they've been working on diligently for the past several years. It's not clear to most students and parent what comprises a national university, but having more doctoral programs and doctoral graduates is one of them. Even ranked as the #1 regional university in the Northeast, many top students opted for Boston College and Georgetown (two of their top rivals in cross applications), both of whom are highly ranked national universities.

Rankings of national universities has an important effect on the caliber of student that a school attracts. In the top 30 are some of the most prestigious universities in the country - each ivy league school, MIT, Stanford, Duke, University of Chicago, MIT, Vanderbilt, Norte Dame, Georgetown, and others. NYU and Boston College reside just above 30. For universities, a top ranking is a self fulfilling prophecy - students want to attend the best universities, and in doing so, help maintain that school as a top university. For years, Villanova wanted to compete for those students, but were nowhere to be found on the lists of the top national universities. My guess is that they will enter this list somewhere between a 35 and 45 ranking, with their sites set on the top 30. They already feel that they are as good or better than BC, but in terms of entrance requirements alone, that probably is more of an aspiration than reality.

I believe JSJ posted an article last year about how Northeastern University in Boston engineered a dramatic rise in the national rankings by analyzing ranking critters and improving in each of those areas, all without dramatically improving the quality of education they offered. It did have a dramatic impact on the quality of student they attract, and although long thought to be far inferior to their cross town rival Boston University, now with a ranking somewhere around 50 (BU is somewhere around 42 or 43), they now attract a comparable quality of student.

It all goes to show that national rankings have to be viewed with some degree of skepticism, but rankings are a high stakes game that have an incredible impact on the quality of student they attract. For example, Boston Colleges top ten cross application schools include the 8 Ivy league schools and Villanova (for obvious reasons - geographic and Catholic based). Villanova's cross application is not nearly as impressive, but a high national ranking will change that.

To some, with good reason, it's all nonsense to a degree. The reality is, though, that there is intense completion for the nation's very best students, and the reclassification of Villanova as a national university will help them considerably in this quest.
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Beast your post and Otis's post are hugely informative. I have not been following this however I believe most people consider Villanova to be just a notch below ND, GT and BC amongst Catholic schools, with or without the US World and Business ranking. They are still able to attract a very high quality of student because, amongst other things, they are much smaller than the big three. While the national ranking and everything that goes along with it is great for the school, IMO most people already consider Nova a top 50 college. So I'm not really sure how much of an impact it will have on improving upon their already selective admissions process and the quality of their students.
 
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