Hubs and Authorities Relating Universities and Prestigious Alumni
Hubs and Authorities are present all throughout the internet. The valuation for each is extremely important in determining the value of the content/links within. Universities and their sites follow the same rules and valuation effects. Prestigious schools have extremely high valuations because of the also prestigious links it holds. For example, highly esteemed alumnus present considerable reputation boosts to the schools. Following this, as the schools gain prestige from their alumni, more promising potential students will enroll, seeing the valuation in the university over the competitors.
This trend continues and is repetitive to the point that the separation of value and prestige is so massive that students from all over the world compete viciously to get into the top valued schools (Ivy League), while others are forced to accept almost any that apply. It should also be noted that the admission slots for each university do not regularly expand, so higher valued colleges supply increased competition for dwindling spots, while less desirable places struggle to fill the regulated admission spots with students of high academic performance. The students act as Hubs that connect (through enrollment/graduation) to each university (Authority). The achievements the alumni incur over their lifetime acts to increase the value of the universities.
The article discusses the issue of increasing desire to be enrolled correlated to the stagnant number of admission spots. More importantly, the applications for enrollment tend to bunch at the top of the university hierarchy. This is a result of the potential students seeing the valuations of the college and choosing the higher value over the lesser (one’s with less reputable alumni connecting).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046867/