America's Sleepiest Colleges

A ranking from JAWBONE reproduced at THE Tab lists American colleges and universities according to the hours of sleep that students get. Apparently there is a significant correlation between the ranking of the institution according to the US News and late weekday bedtime.

Here are the top ten universities according to the number of hours slept per night (inverting the JAWBONE list).

1.   Colorado
2=  Tulane
2=  Vermont
4.    Auburn
5.    Arkansas
6=  South Carolina
6=  Iowa
8=  Brown
8=  Florida State
8=  Clemson

Please do not share this too much or demented bureaucrats will start incorporating caffeine injections into their rankings strategy.

Aussies are falling out of love with THE

Matthew Knott in the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australian education experts are no longer impressed by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

"Grattan Institute higher education program director Andrew Norton says The Times rankings are not "terribly high quality".

"They should not be used as a guide for which university to go to and they shouldn't be used as a guide to higher education policy," he says.

In particular, he warns that movements up or down the league table – especially small ones – should not be used a reliable verdict on whether a university is improving or declining.

And he's not alone.

Australian higher education academic Simon Marginson, one of the leading experts on university rankings, is even more damning.

"In social science terms they are rubbish," he told an academic conference last year."

THE will probably not be bothered too much. After all, when you have been declared "education secretary of the world" in China, who cares if an Australian journalist compares you to dead sticks? 

No more excellence at the University of Missouri

No, it is not a new initiative to identify more inclusive measures of achievement.

From Peter Woods at Minding the Campus:

"The University of Missouri has eliminated Respect and Excellence.  I have to write this in a hurry because it won’t be long before others will seize on this gift.  Respect and Excellence are the names for two residence halls at the University.  They are being closed because the University suddenly finds that its enrollments are plummeting.  Two other dorms were closed already in light of the crisis.

Let’s bask in the irony for a moment or two longer.  The University of Missouri arrived at this juncture by cravenly submitting to the demands of activists and the threats of football players who decided to abet the activists.  On November 9, System President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin resigned rather than face down those threats."

There is definitely something wrong with the administration if they did not anticipate the reaction to this.