Ohio State hopes to be ranked No. 1 in more than just football during the next two years.

In 2005, the National Research Council will rank the quality of graduate programs at colleges and universities across the United States.

The 1995 rankings placed OSU No. 1 in 37 of the 41 disciplines rated for the state of Ohio. Overall, OSU had programs for 39 of the 41 areas in the ranks.

William Clark, associate dean of the graduate school, said he expects OSU to have 10 doctoral programs ranked within the top 20 in the country when the 2005 results are reported.

“Our rankings will certainly go up in most programs,” Clark said.

Highly-ranked programs receive money for research, and conversely, programs that have stable funding for research are ranked highly.

“It is difficult for programs not already in the top to move to the top,” said Charlotte Kuh, spokeswoman for the NRC.

The American Council on Education began the assessment of doctoral colleges in 1950, and in 1982, the National Research Council was asked to direct the process.

“It is considered the gold standing of rankings,” Kuh said.

The assessment is conducted by faculty. Data is collected every 10 years, giving universities time to improve existing programs or implement new research strategies.

NRC rankings are more respected than those of U.S. News and World Report and other rankings published yearly.

“Other surveys are weighted and show the average of many different variables as one and only present the reputation ratings,” Kuh said.

Considered variables include publications written in peer reviews, number of publications per faculty and makeup of the graduating classes, including gender and ethnicity. In a reputation survey, faculty are asked to evaluate faculty at other institutions.

Because they are ranked quantitatively, OSU takes NRC rankings seriously. OSU is slated higher in industry rankings, where industries rank the performance of professional employees hired.

“The results are put together by people in higher education, and that is a much more valued and better reflection of doctoral programs — less of a beauty contest,” Clark said. “We can compare our performance to other institutions’ such as Michigan and Berkley.”

When faculty members see other institutions top research rankings, it prompts them to become included in and associated with that institution’s research. For doctoral research, these rankings are a selective investment.

“Universities and colleges are trying to improve their faculty to increase their rankings,” Kuh said.

The NRC is planning on expanding the number of disciplines within the 2005 rankings. They will also evaluate student opinions of doctoral programs.

“We thought something was missing and decided that students in the programs should evaluate based on their own experiences,” said Kuh.

“We have to convince people to join the very best and to do that we have to perform well in the NRC rankings,” Clark said.