New Peer Group

Earlier this year, UDS embarked on a process to reexamine the composition of our commonly used group of peer institutions (the G14) using a data-informed approach. Combining publicly available data, machine learning, and feedback from leadership in the Offices of the Chancellor and Provost, we were able to determine the characteristics important in potential peers and identify institutions that fit the bill.

Starting from the pool of all Carnegie Classification R1 (Very High Research Activity) institutions, we examined indicators of three key attributes: size, research intensity, and selectivity. Utilizing a variety of clustering algorithms, we narrowed down our candidates to those most commonly clustered with Northeastern.  We then tweaked the clustering results to incorporate considerations not captured in the data to arrive at the final group.

The new peer group is comprised of the following institutions: Boston College, Boston University, Brown University, Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Duke University, Emory University, Georgetown University, New York University, Northwestern University, Tufts University, Tulane University, University of Miami, University of Notre Dame, University of Rochester, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University.

This peer group can be utilized for university-level benchmarking, such as comparing national and international ranking results. It is also possible to develop targeted peer groups for subject matter specific benchmarking. Please reach out to UDS if you would like to learn more.