Harvard brand takes a hit in tough times

Tough economic times have hurt Harvard University's public standing in the media over the past nine months, while schools perceived as a safer educational investment have benefited, a research firm said.

Global Language Monitor, which ranks colleges and universities based on their appearances in print and other media, said the venerable Ivy League institution has fallen from first to third behind University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The firm said it recorded a 20 percent decline in media representations of Harvard, America's richest university by endowment, which has allowed some technical schools and state-run "public Ivies" to improve their standing.

"Sometimes events do impact your name and our analysis seems to be that since Harvard fell that much, it appears tied to the economic restructuring," said Paul Payack, president and chief word analyst at the Global Language Monitor. "It also appears to be that it hit Harvard harder than other universities because of the news stemming from it."

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http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59T4FJ20091030

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