NAICU launches 'accountability' network

NAICU launches Web site to better inform students and parents

The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) launched its University and College Accountability Network today by unveiling a Web site on which more than 500 independent institutions, including Skidmore, are presenting key data in a way that makes it easy for students and parents to compare institutions.

Visitors to the U-CAN Web site may browse lists of institutions by state and distance from home. On individual profiles they'll find charts and graphs that vividly display a wide range of information pertaining to admissions, enrollment, academics, student demographics, graduation rates, most common fields of study, credit transfer policy, accreditation, faculty information, class size, cost of attendance, tuition and fee trends, financial aid, campus housing, student life, and campus safety.

Twenty-five targeted hyperlinks take students to specific pages of each institution's Web site. The links and narrative descriptions complement the profile's statistical data and provide an opportunity to see what makes each college or university unique.

Creation of the site is a response to calls by both the Department of Education and members of Congress for colleges to provide the public more and better information. NAICU has been developing it since August of last year.

NAICU says the organization doesn't consider the U-CAN site to be a direct response to the controversial US News and World Report annual "Best Colleges" rankings, but many college presidents believe it's a far better way to present data to students and parents. The Annapolis Group, an association of leading liberal arts colleges of which Skidmore is a member, has been particularly insistent in recent years on the need for an independent system for disseminating information and comparing colleges. Most objectionable, they say, is the so-called US News "beauty contest"?a reputational survey in which presidents, chief academic officers and admissions directors are asked to rank their peer institutions.

"There is simply too much randomness in the results of this survey for it to have validity," said Skidmore President Philip A. Glotzbach in announcing Skidmore's decision last month to no longer participate in the magazine's reputation survey. "While we may have some knowledge of our peer institutions, we can't possibly know them in the way we know our own. More importantly, while we may have a sense of other colleges and universities based on our experience in higher education, that impression may or may not reflect any given institution's current strengths or weaknesses."

"The U-CAN site will provide accurate comparative data not only to the students and parents who need it to make well-informed decisions, but also to the public at large and to news organizations that are appropriately concerned about reporting accurately on the status of higher education," he continued. "For the first time, everyone will be comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges."