Letter to the Editor: FIU’s impressive top rankings

A recent Miami Herald article published on Sept. 25, Miami-area university captures top spot in a ranking, sadly missed the mark in stating FIU’s achievements.

The article suggests that FIU’s primary accomplishment is being ranked No. 1 nationally in social mobility.

Most people, however, do not even know what that means; it just indicates that we have many applicants from low income backgrounds who, through their hard work and intelligence (not to mention our low tuition), applied, were admitted, enrolled and graduated at high rates from FIU. This is laudable.

Even more significant, however, is thataccording to U.S. News & World Report — the gold standard in college and university rankings — FIU is now a Top 50 public national university and also ranks among the top 100 national universities, where private institutions are also included.

These achievements were mentioned toward the end of the article, which only some people will read.

Furthermore, FIU is the youngest among the top research universities in the nation.

Modesto A. Maidique,

FIU President Emeritus,

Alvah Chapman, Jr. Eminent Scholar