The National Research Council (NRC) has just released detailed rankings of doctoral programs at research universities. The new study provides rankings of a core field for ESPM — ecology and evolutionary biology, that was not evaluated in prior NRC studies.
Programs were evaluated on the basis of twenty characteristics including the number and significance of research publications, financial support, graduate student qualifications and outcomes, diversity, etc. Programs were not assigned a single rank, but as falling somewhere within a range of ranks, such as between 1st and 6th, in recognition of the uncertainties that surround any attempt to rank programs by quality
In this field, ESPM’s program was judged to rank somewhere between fourth and nineteenth among the nation’s doctoral programs. ESPM Chair Ron Amundson said, "ESPM is very pleased with the new NRC report. Our multidisciplinary Department contributes in key ways to several of the campus' highly rated graduate programs, especially Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Earth Sciences, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Geography."
To learn more about CNR rankings go to: http://nature.berkeley.edu/blogs/news/2010/09/cnrs_graduate_programs_ranked.php
To learn more about how Berkeley programs fared go to:
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2010/09/28_nrc-rankings.shtml
To see the NRC full report go to: http://www.nap.edu/rdp/