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[quote]
Syracuse University announced that it will withdraw from the prestigious American Association of Universities after 45 years of membership. At the heart of the problem is what qualifies as "prestigious" in higher education today.</p>
<p>Syracuse was really heading off a public embarrassment -- the AAU would probably have it forced out -- because its federal research funding has dropped. The University of Nebraska suffered just that fate a few months ago.
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<p>How will this affect Syracuse's reputation? Does membership in the AAU mean much?</p>
<p>How</a> 'prestige' colleges slap students - NYPOST.com</p>
<p>It means a lot to those in the business.</p>
<p>Nebraska, Syracuse, who is next? Looks like the AAU is cleaning house.</p>
<p>I’d say ISU, Tulane, and Oregon would be on the bubble. Maybe Rochester</p>
<p>If only Syracuse had hired Jim Tressel to oversee the integrity its federal research grants…</p>
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<p>Nope, not Rochester. Last year Rochester got over $400 million in research funding (higher than Emory). This value is ranked 27th among all US universities and 8th when adjusted for faculty size.</p>
<p>The school is small but it does not lack in the measurements that AAU takes into considerations for their membership.</p>
<p>Rochester’s president is also one of the 10 executive committee of the AAU, they were the ones that made the initial recommendation of kicking Nebraska out.</p>
<p>I imagine that this will do little to impact public perception of the university. Whatever it means in a research sense, I don’t know. All I know about the AAU is that every once in a while they kick universities out for not being prestigious enough. Sounds totally worthwhile.</p>
<p>The AAU was founded in 1900. Since then, only four schools have left:</p>
<ul>
<li>Clark University (founding member in 1900, left 1999)</li>
<li>Catholic University (founding member in 1900, left 2002)</li>
<li>University of Nebraska (joined 1909, left 2011)</li>
<li>Syracuse University (joined 1966, left 2011)</li>
</ul>
<p>Haven’t heard that any other departures are imminent.</p>
<p>I did some research, and the AAU was founded to standardize PhD programs. Given that this seems to have been achieved, what is it that they do now?</p>
<p>I think your “research” gets a FAIL.</p>
<p>The Association of American Universities (AAU) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of 61 leading public and private research universities in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1900 to advance the international standing of U.S. research universities, AAU today focuses on issues that are important to research-intensive universities, such as funding for research, research policy issues, and graduate and undergraduate education.</p>
<p>AAU member universities are on the leading edge of innovation, scholarship, and solutions that contribute to the nation’s economy, security, and well-being. The 59 AAU universities in the United States award more than one-half of all U.S. doctoral degrees and 55 percent of those in the sciences and engineering.</p>
<p>AAU programs and projects address institutional issues facing its member universities, as well as government actions that affect these and other universities.</p>
<p>AAU works to maintain the productive partnership between the nation’s research universities and the federal government. The major activities of the association include federal government relations, policy studies, and public affairs.</p>
<p>Membership in the association is by invitation. Information about AAU membership is available here.</p>
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And yours is to copy and paste from the AAU website? None of which contradicts what I said, that the main goal of the AAU at its founding was to standardize American doctoral programs. But okay, I looked into their website, and on their History page, they say that it was founded to increase the standing of US universities abroad. Which has certainly been done.</p>
<p>When I asked what they do now, I wasn’t looking for a copy/paste from their website, but rather an explanation that wasn’t written by people trying to endorse themselves.</p>