War college's rankings have plummeted. Here's why this threatens US security. | Opinion
The U.S. Naval War College Faces Unique Educational Challenges
Bruce A. Elleman is the William V. Pratt Professor of International History at the Naval War College in Newport. His views do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Naval War College or the U.S. Navy.
The U.S. Navy has recently fallen on hard times with the Fat Leonard scandal, ship collisions and expensive ship construction delays. The U.S. Naval War College is no exception. In 2019, Rear Adm. Jeffrey A. Harley was forced to step down after several disaffected retired Navy officers leaked scurrilous “confidential” government documents to the Associated Press, an event I called at the time an on-land “mutiny.” President Harley was the top active duty leader at the NWC.
The Navy Times reported just a year later that the top civilian leader, Provost Lewis Duncan, was implicated in a pornography scandal and he also stepped down, in February 2021.
Within little more than a year, therefore, the top NWC military leader and the top NWC civilian leader were both ousted.
No surprise, the NWC’s national and international rankings plummeted. The YouScholars college ranking website in 2022 gave the NWC a miserable country ranking of 879, probably because the majority of the NWC were not credentialed faculty, meaning they do not have a Ph.D., educational degree, or terminal law degree. By comparison, the more fully-credentialed Brown University was ranked 49, almost 18 times better. But Brown’s world ranking of 74 beat the NWC’s score of 5474 by 5,400 points, showing just how far the NWC has fallen.
To fix the NWC, three things must be emphasized: credentials, qualifications, and compensation.
Credentials: At the NWC, fully two-thirds of the faculty are not credentialed, meaning they do not have a Ph.D., Ed.D. or terminal law degree. By now, somewhere between 100 to 150 ex-military practitioners at the NWC are not properly credentialed to work at any university or college, much less the NWC.
Recommendation: If the NWC wants to compete with its “near peers,” its staff must become fully credentialed.
Qualifications: Scholarly qualifications are not the same as credentials. In almost all civilian colleges and universities a professor with a Ph.D. must also publish a book, and sometimes two, to get tenure and be promoted to full professor. Many NWC full professors have not published a book. This simple fact is reflected in the YouScholar Excellency ranking of 7190 compared to 172 for Brown. The vast majority of practitioners at the NWC are neither credentialed nor qualified for the jobs that they hold.
Recommendation: If the NWC wants to compete with its “near peers,” every full professor must publish a single-author book.
Compensation: Salaries for civilian full professors at the NWC are not keeping up with peer competitors. Just a year ago, a civilian Ph.D. turned down a top-pay-band offer to come to the NWC, citing low comparative pay plus high housing costs.
Recommendation: If the NWC wants to compete with “near peers,” it must pay its full professors salaries commensurate with their peers.
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The Navy is facing an existential education crisis. If it does not focus on proper scholarly credentials and qualifications, and then adequately compensate those full professors who have passed these high bars, it will be doomed to slide further down the rankings compared to its peer institutions.
The threat is real. China’s navy is currently the largest in the world, and Chinese leaders have repeatedly stated they are willing to use force to achieve their strategic objectives. Now is not the time for the U.S. Navy to slight professional military education. It is time to adopt real educational reform.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: To fix the NWC, three things must be emphasized: credentials, qualifications, and compensation.
