NCAAbbs

Making The Grade For University Of Memphis

There’s a certain level of angst that surfaces this time each year because the football team at University of Memphis isn’t in the top 100 in pre-season rankings.

As University of Memphis graduates, all of us here do care about the fortunes of our sports teams, but that’s not the ranking that really got our attention lately.

Instead, it was the ranking of the top 500 universities in the world. University of Memphis didn’t make the cut.

Imperative

All of us who care about the future of our city should also care about the future of U of M, no matter what their alma maters. As we look for strategies to expand and improve our economy, it’s imperative that we make it a priority to move Memphis’ higher education anchor up that list – or at least the list of the top U.S. universities.

After all, if other public universities can make the list – including University of Tennessee at Knoxville and University of Alabama at Birmingham, both in the top 200 of the world’s best universities; University of Arkansas, in the top 400, and Mississippi State University, in the top 500 – is there any reason that we should assume that University of Memphis can’t make it?

By the way, at a time when some commentators question America’s ability to produce students to compete in the global economy, it’s worth noting that of the top 20 universities in the world, 18 are in the U.S. Unsurprisingly, Harvard University is #1, and the highest ranked public university is University of California – Berkeley at #3.


Here's the rest of the article...
http://smartcitymemphis.blogspot.com/200...mphis.html

I don't know who released that ranking, but I refuse to give it any merit when it puts UAB in the top 200 and Memphis not even in the top 500. I'd like to see their judging criteria.

They do have a Med School at UAB and a School of Dentistry. Pretty big things and I bet they factored in to UAB's ranking.

Just because UAB(or any other school for that matter) sucks at sports, does not mean their school sucks in general. Look no further than the Ivy League. I would not bet on Yale for anything sports related, but I would take one of their graduates for my business in a heartbeat.

Memphis ranked 337 on Forbes magazine's 2008 list of America's Best Colleges. The thing about these lists is that none of the high ranking schools have an enrollment over 10,000; so it looks like larger universities are behind the eight ball before they even begin.

This is a BS hit piece. He gives no references. I suspect he is citing a ranking based on a list of universities that came to someone's mind in their own biased order.

Now if they could just potty train there students they might move up the list a bit.

I wasn't referring to sports. They are a regular state school just like we are. As poppa mentioned they do have the med school, but I don't see how that could jump them over 300 spots ahead of us.

I agree with your point about criteria being established.

If you look at the methodology for the rankings -- nearly 60% of it is based on professor's achievements (publishing, awards, etc).

If that is the case then the U of M being ranked so low makes sense. I cannot speak other colleges, but at the business school under Dean Pepin, it was not pushed to have the professors do a lot of research and get published. I believe that this has changed under Dean Grover.

Check out the 3rd comment...pro OCS, but WOW!!!!!!!!!!

I think ala-Birmingham also has an optometry school