PHILADELPHIA -- The National Research Council has released its long-awaited assessment of the nation’s research doctoral programs.  The assessment, using data collected from the 2005-06 academic year, covers 4,838 programs in 62 fields at 212 universities.

Penn participated in the assessment, contributing data from 41 programs.  The survey did not assign a single rank to any program.  Instead, programs were placed within a range of rankings based on 20 variables, including measures of faculty research activity, student support and outcomes and faculty and student demographics.

Based on the NRC’s analysis, nearly three-quarters of Penn’s 41 assessed programs were placed in ranges including the top 10 rankings in their fields, with more than half of these in ranges including the top 5 rankings in these fields.

“The NRC findings reflect Penn’s outstanding position in graduate education across a broad range of fields based on our interdisciplinary graduate group model,” Andrew Binns, vice provost for education, said.  “Penn is one of the country’s most renowned research universities.  Our graduate programs have long track records of innovation and have produced generations of outstanding leaders in academia, industry, government and public service.

“Although the NRC data are not as current or accurate as they might be,” Binns said, “this study nevertheless provides us with a great deal of information that has never before been available.  We are hopeful that the NRC’s work will ultimately prove beneficial for our own ongoing process of self-evaluation and improvement across all of our graduate programs.”

Penn’s graduate programs with ranking ranges in the top 10 range: R-rankings

The R rankings are based on faculty evaluators’ opinions about a sample of programs in the field.

Anthropology
Bioengineering
Business & Public Policy
Cell & Developmental Biology*
Classical Studies (combined with Ancient History and with Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World)*
Communication*
Comparative Languages & Literary Theory
Computer & Information Sciences
Economics
English
French*
Genetics and Genomics
History (combined with History and Sociology of Science)*
History of Art*
Immunology*
Linguistics*
Microbiology*
Music*
Neuroscience
Nursing*
Operations & Information Management*
Pharmacological Sciences*
Psychology
Religious Studies*
Sociology (combined with Demography)*
Statistics

*Programs with ranking ranges that include a top 5 rank

 
Penn’s graduate programs with ranking ranges in the top 10 range: S-rankings
 
The S rankings reflect how strong a program is according to the characteristics faculty in that field say they value most highly.

Anthropology
Bioengineering*
Biostatistics & Epidemiology
Business & Public Policy
Cell & Developmental Biology*
Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Classical Studies (combined with Ancient History and with Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World)*
Communication*
Comparative Languages & Literary Theory*
Computer & Information Sciences*
Economics
English*
French*
Genetics and Genomics
History (combined with History and Sociology of Science)*
History of Art
Immunology*
Linguistics
Microbiology*
Music
Neuroscience
Nursing*
Pharmacological Sciences*
Physics & Astronomy*
Religious Studies
Social Welfare
Sociology (combined with Demography)*

* Programs with ranking ranges that include a top 5 rank

Additional information about the NRC rankings is available at http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/Resdoc/.