Lies, Damned Lies and Rankings

“Temple reveals that scandal over false information submitted for rankings of its online M.B.A. was much broader than earlier known. Dean, found to have dismantled system for checking accuracy of data, is ousted.” …

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/07/10/temple-ousts-business-dean-after-report-finds-online-mba-program-years-submitted

Illustrates the importance of US News rankings. Similar discoveries have been made regarding law schools as well as undergraduate colleges & universities.

Wonder if this could form the basis of legal action for any misled & unsatisfied graduates of this program.

It is one thing to borrow a large amount of money to buy a luxury car, but entirely something else when one borrows the same amount of money to purchase a luxury car, but later realizes that it only has a Yugo engine.

Hate to sound old-fashioned, but “top ranked ONLINE MBA” just seems like an oxymoron.
And should there even be a separate ranking of online programs ?
If I cared about rankings, I would want to know how well the school does on or offline.
If truly same professors, courses, outcomes, they why does a separate online ranking matter ?

Regardless, they are not the first to game the system with rankings data, and this is not limited to online programs.
With the common app, can’t universities have independent rankings ?
If common app was used to report back acceptances, and used for grad school, all this could be fully automated
and truly independent. Those colleges seeking to bypass common app can just go unranked…
I am sure Harvard and MIT wont be harmed if they go unranked.