The Jindal School Rankings Strategy Explained

What is the Jindal School Rankings Strategy?

University rankings are powerful tools of persuasion — and not just for potential students. They also play a role in fundraising, talent recruitment and overall influence.

The Jindal School strategy with regard to rankings is to focus on organizations where we have participated and provided data for criteria used to compare and contrast. It only makes sense that higher education institutions be part of the conversation regarding what success looks like in this space. By participating in these rankings, we are also able to vouch for the methodology used.

Rankings continue to change and evolve, which requires an internal point person who understands the methodologies, algorithms and industry changes. The point-person within JSOM is Senior Associate Dean Monica Powell. Dr. Powell oversees the JSOM strategy and relationships with the identified key rankings organizations. She also evaluates any new rankings and the organizations behind them.

Jimmie Markham, communications director, works directly with Dr. Powell to publicize rankings and update the JSOM rankings page on the JSOM website.

What rankings do we actively participate in and promote?

We work with a number of rankings organizations. These include but are not limited to the following:

• U.S. News & World Report
• Bloomberg Businessweek
• Financial Times
• Forbes
• Fortune
• Gartner*
• Poets & Quants
• The Princeton Review*
• QS World University Rankings*
• TFE Times

*Gartner, The Princeton Review and QS Quacquarelli Symonds are data and service companies, not publications. On the rankings page and elsewhere, we do not italicize the names of rankings organizations that are not publications or media companies.

How do we typically promote our rankings?

As new rankings are published each year, there is a process in place for Dr. Powell to work with Jimmie Markham on the best way to promote and update those rankings. Important note: Each rankings organization follows a different schedule for publishing its new data, which means this is an ongoing process throughout the year.

Typically, the new rankings are showcased on our Jindal School Rankings page, a story is written by our communication team, and, in some cases, a press release is sent to outside media outlets.

What about rankings that are produced by organizations we do not partner with?

There are rankings created without our input. Usually, these organizations are curating different public sources to put into their methodology and create that ranking. They may aggregate public data sources to come up with their list. So what is the motivation for doing this? Primarily, these organizations are trying to drive traffic to their website so they can sell advertising. Are they legitimate in how they are arriving at the ranking? Maybe, but maybe not. Some of them do use our approved rankings sources as part of that data, so it is not to say these are not valid — they are just not part of our rankings strategy because we do not participate in providing them data and cannot vouch for the methodology used.

What do you do if you find a ranking for your program or the school but it is not part of our chosen rankings list?

As more and more rankings sites pop up, you will likely come across several that include the school or your program. Here are the steps we ask you to take when you find these other rankings:

1. Send an email with the rankings information to Monica Powell and copy (CC:) Jimmie Markham . This will allow Monica to look at the methodology and assess it based on our standards. About 99.5% of the time, the ranking and its related information will not be a part of the ranking we promote, but it is good to be in the know and for the marketing team to keep track of all the rankings where we are listed.
2. If there is incorrect information on one of these rankings sites, we ask that the program director or program manager work with Monica Powell to get the correct boilerplate language to submit to the rankings organization. NOTE: Because we do not work directly with these organizations, they often find school and program information from other sources. It often is not completely accurate. We need your help to get the correct information included. Also, a caveat: There is no guarantee that if you send corrected or updated information, the company or organization to which you send it will honor your request.

How to include rankings in proposals or marketing?

When you want to include rankings in marketing collateral, start with the rankings page on the JSOM website. Those rankings have been vetted and approved. They are also written as we want them positioned to the outside world, which makes it easy for you to copy, paste and go.

If you would like to use a ranking that is not listed on the webpage to promote your program (via your webpage and/or marketing collateral), that is allowed. However, you must be able to explain the methodology.

How do we promote rankings on social media?

There are a few things to consider before posting. You always want to be able to send the reader somewhere for more information, so be sure to include a link to the webpage where the ranking is listed.

To help your efforts go even further, tagging JSOM Social will amplify your reach. Below are the ways in which JSOM appears on social media:

• Facebook/LinkedIn: Naveen Jindal School of Management, UT Dallas
• Twitter/Instagram: @jindal_utdallas

In order to tag JSOM in a social media post, simply use the @ before typing out our name. For example, you would type, “Our latest @Naveen Jindal School of Management, UT Dallas ranking…” and the @ will disappear once the post is live. Additionally, the singular branded JSOM hashtag is simply: #JSOM

When JSOM Social promotes Jindal School rankings, we always link to the news story. View a sample LinkedIn post here.

If you have any rankings-related questions, do not hesitate to reach out to Dr. Powell:
mpowell@utdallas.edu
(972) 883-6595
JSOM 4.617