The Wall Street Journal has added a new 'Character Score' to its Annual U.S. College Rankings, measuring how well universities help students cultivate qualities such as moral courage, resilience, and fairness. Developed in collaboration with Prof Edward Brooks, Prof Tyler VanderWeele, Dr Brendan Case, and Dr Katelyn Long of The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard's Institute for Quantitative Social Science, this marks an important recognition that character formation is a vital dimension of higher education in the 21st century.
“The development of character qualities that enable students to flourish personally and contribute to society is an essential aspect of college education. The inclusion of character in the rankings is an important step that brings character development to the fore.” – Prof Edward Brooks
Key insights:
- Character development now forms part of the WSJ rankings under “Learning Environment.”
- The survey engaged 60,000 students and alumni from 500 institutions.
- Character contributes 4% of the overall ranking, signalling its growing importance alongside academic and career outcomes.
Recognising character within such an influential ranking system affirms that education is not only about knowledge and skills, but also about preparing students to lead lives of purpose and to contribute to the flourishing of communities and society.