University supplying false data loses 'US News’ ranking

US News & World Report has stripped the University of Oklahoma of its ranking, citing incorrect information provided about alumni giving. The university told US News that it has been supplying incorrect data since 1999, writes Scott Jaschik for Inside Higher Ed.

According to the magazine, the most recent report from Oklahoma claimed that its two-year rate of alumni giving was 14%, when it is actually 9.7%. Alumni giving counts for 5% of the methodology in the ‘Best Colleges’ ranking by US News. As a result, the magazine removed Oklahoma from that ranking and several others, including ‘best value’ colleges, top public universities and best colleges for veterans. Colleges periodically lose their rankings because of false data, sometimes submitted incorrectly but without the intent to deceive.

This marks the second time in two years that a college has been found to have submitted false data to US News – and to have done so intentionally – for multiple years. Temple University last year admitted that its business school had submitted false data about its online MBA programme from 2015 to 2018. The data fraud at Oklahoma went on longer.
Full report on the Inside Higher Ed site