In the eight years that the National Survey of Student Engagement has measured students’ involvement in academics and campus activities, the survey has emerged in higher-education circles as a popular alternative to controversial rankings such as those published by U.S. News & World Report.

NSSE, which is known affectionately as “Nessie” and is based at Indiana University at Bloomington, may receive another boost through a recently announced partnership with USA Today that, according to the survey’s Web site, aims to “provide prospective students, parents, counselors, and others with information about aspects of collegiate quality not available through most accessible venues.”

To that end, said George D. Kuh, NSSE’s director, the survey has asked 1,000 four-year institutions that have participated in the past three years to share with the newspaper their scores in NSSE’s five benchmarking categories: level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, enriching educational experiences, and supportive campus environments.

The newspaper may choose to publish the scores or use the data for feature articles to accompany the release of NSSE’s annual survey, in November, said Mr. Kuh, who noted that the “experiment” was in its preliminary stages. He emphasized that the information would not be used to compile a competing set of rankings, but rather “to gently nudge ahead the public-accountability and institutional-transparency movement.” He added that NSSE would not share any data without the express permission of the college involved.

So far, said Mr. Kuh, NSSE has heard back from about a quarter of the institutions contacted. Half of those have agreed to release their scores to USA Today. A quarter said “maybe,” and the rest answered, “no, not at this time.” Mr. Kuh expects that colleges participating in the 2007 survey will wait until they receive their scores next week before deciding whether to share them. —Paula Wasley