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Old 03-04-2009, 05:33 AM
 
Location: Rockport Texas from El Paso
2,601 posts, read 8,519,025 times
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There's lots of talk about making 6 state univs into "Tier One" Univerisites.

Anyone know the impact?

University of Texas - El Paso a nice school -with a pretty campus is one of them.

On the other hand Sam Houston State in Huntsville whose Criminal Justice program is always ranked in the Top 3 in the nation doesn't seem to care about that. Does it matter?

University of North Texas a really good school in Denton -especially in Music and Public Admin- Political Science also doesn't seem to care.
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Old 03-04-2009, 10:52 AM
 
Location: Plano, TX
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I have a hard time believing that UTEP will be considered Tier 1. If I were to assess what the top 6 universities in Texas are I would think something along the lines of Rice, UT-Austin, Texas A&M, UT-Dallas, SMU & Texas Tech ...
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Old 03-04-2009, 01:27 PM
 
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Tiers just represent how much money the university brings in from scholarships and in other ways. It is top tier in regards to business dealings not so much in quality of education. Quality is subjective.

North Texas doesn't bring in a lot of money when compared to top tier yet the quality of education is considered excellent in several of their programs.
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Old 03-04-2009, 01:28 PM
 
Location: Dallas
808 posts, read 3,646,717 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by compSciGuy View Post
I have a hard time believing that UTEP will be considered Tier 1. If I were to assess what the top 6 universities in Texas are I would think something along the lines of Rice, UT-Austin, Texas A&M, UT-Dallas, SMU & Texas Tech ...
We're not talking Tier One in the US News Rankings, we are talking about Tier One Research schools...which SMU and, I believe, Texas Tech are not a part of either (not a knock against those schools; I am a student at SMU).
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Old 03-04-2009, 01:31 PM
 
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Just because the university brings in a lot of money for research doesn't mean the quality of the school is any good. A lot of times the research projects are virtually useless.

Quote:
Originally Posted by awecelot View Post
We're not talking Tier One in the US News Rankings, we are talking about Tier One Research schools...which SMU and, I believe, Texas Tech are not a part of either (not a knock against those schools; I am a student at SMU).
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Old 03-04-2009, 02:15 PM
 
37,315 posts, read 59,832,630 times
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IMO--it just means higher taxes and higher salaries for admins--who can say they are worth more if they are working at top-tier school
frankly I think it is all about self-aggrandizement for the people who work there...
a great college is born out of great vision and people in this state legislature and the colleges I see are not that kind of people--they think building a bridge over a river is a big deal or starting up a successful football team to bring in bowl money vs giving students a world-class education...
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Old 03-04-2009, 04:21 PM
 
Location: Dallas
808 posts, read 3,646,717 times
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Originally Posted by artsyguy View Post
Just because the university brings in a lot of money for research doesn't mean the quality of the school is any good. A lot of times the research projects are virtually useless.
Not to discount research at all, but I have always felt that the primary purpose of a university is to teach, with a secondary emphasis on creating new knowledge.
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Old 03-04-2009, 04:32 PM
 
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Exactly "top tier" doesn't mean anything to students. "Top tier" just means how rich the school system or university is.

Research is great but how many millions of dollars really go to expanding libraries, databases, and providing resources for primary research or training instructors or professors to implement enhanced teaching or instruction? The money goes to undeserving salaries and not to the students.

Anybody can do research....and most research discovered by students is virtually meaningless to our society. Every once in a while a graduate research student will discover something worth while.

Quote:
Originally Posted by awecelot View Post
Not to discount research at all, but I have always felt that the primary purpose of a university is to teach, with a secondary emphasis on creating new knowledge.
Quote:
Originally Posted by loves2read View Post
IMO--it just means higher taxes and higher salaries for admins--who can say they are worth more if they are working at top-tier school
frankly I think it is all about self-aggrandizement for the people who work there...
a great college is born out of great vision and people in this state legislature and the colleges I see are not that kind of people--they think building a bridge over a river is a big deal or starting up a successful football team to bring in bowl money vs giving students a world-class education...
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Old 03-04-2009, 04:53 PM
 
10,130 posts, read 19,872,387 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by artsyguy View Post
Exactly "top tier" doesn't mean anything to students. "Top tier" just means how rich the school system or university is.
It means something to students when they graduate and have that degree on the wall from a top-tier school. Especially if they are looking to be hired into an R&D department.. sure, they may not have done any research that leads to anything at school. But they probably had the tools and money to get the experience necessary to flourish in a corporate R&D department. A degree from a top tier school means better initial offers from employers, more money to start, etc.

Quote:
Anybody can do research....and most research discovered by students is virtually meaningless to our society. Every once in a while a graduate research student will discover something worth while.
Maybe so, but the money going to research at these institutions is largely not going to student research. It's the post-graduates/faculty that are involved in the serious research that leads to real discovery. Like the development of the Polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh... or these internets we're chatting on -- invented at university research departments with defense department money.

The "father of the internet" Vint Cerf - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, was a post-grad faculty member at Stanford at the time of the creation of the internet.

So yeah, nothing really important is discovered in university research labs...
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Old 03-04-2009, 05:45 PM
 
25,157 posts, read 53,931,506 times
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^That's what I meant post-graduate research ^
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