Columbia University will not participate in the next U.S. News & World Report rankings of colleges across the country, after a Columbia math professor questioned the accuracy of the data that secured its No. 2 spot in the influential rankings, the university announced on Thursday night.

Institutions must improve the ways in which they leverage the extensive data they obtain about a student during the admissions process.

The five-year president at Harvard, lauded as a 'great captain' by colleagues, will remain on until next summer.