Dive Brief:
- The Chronicle has released its annual ‘Great Colleges to Work For’ list, which uses institutional data and survey responses from internal faculty to measure satisfaction and performance.
- Among the categories which dictate contentment with an institution: governance, salary, executive competence and confidence, faculty responsiveness and support, and quality of facilities.
- Other data is drawn from Department of Education statistics on performance and geographical profiles.
Dive Insight:
Lists like these, along with US News & World Report’s ‘Best Colleges’ frequently favor larger institutions with endowments and legislative privilege to match. They frequently box out smaller to mid-size institutions, forego most historically black and community colleges, and outright ignore even the high performing for-profit institutions, all of which comprise a robust section of higher education for changing student demographics.
Schools hoping to make this list, however, can help themselves not by spending more money on salary or facilities, but by increasing communication with stakeholders about plans to develop into the future. Leaders can prioritize increasing shared governance, improving admission standards to make teaching and learning more engaging, and working with student and faculty groups to address the most pressing needs in technology and facilities. After all, being underpaid and working in cramped space is not so bad when faculty love their jobs, see value in what they are doing and feel heard by administration.