Emory University openly admitted Friday that it has intentionally provided falsified data to several news agencies that rank schools, including U.S. News and World Report.

In a shocking revelation, the Georgia-based university cited the results of an independent investigation and announced that it had misrepresented the exam scores of its students for more than a decade to improve its image among the public.

According to the statement released by the university, when the publications asked for the SAT/ACT scores of enrolled students, the school provided the scores of the admitted students to boost up its rank. Apparently, the scores of the enrolled students were slightly lower than those of the accepted ones.

Since the discrepancies were discovered in May, the university conducted an independent investigation engaging a law firm. The investigation focused on three key areas: whether incorrect data were submitted; if submitted, who was responsible; and lastly, if incorrect data were submitted, how and why the practice began.

The results of the investigation revealed that leaders of the university's Office of Admission and Office of Institutional Research were involved in the deliberate misrepresentation. The employees involved in falsifying the data are 'no longer employed at Emory', said the university.

"I am deeply disappointed," Emory's president James Wagner said in a statement. "Indeed, anyone who cares about Emory's reputation for excellence in all things must regret this news." The university's undergraduate programs are one of the most prestigious programs in the nation, which is the reason for the university being repeatedly featured in the top-tier of the rankings. In 2012, the private university with a student strength of 14,000 was ranked as the 20th best undergraduate program by the U.S. News and World Report.

But, in a U.S. News report, U.S. News & World Report Editor and Chief Content Officer Brian Kelly said the misrepresented data would not have changed the school's position in the last two years, but would have had 'a negligible effect' in several previous years.

The agencies which were provided with these falsified data were alerted to the discrepancies in June, but chose to remain mum until Friday when the university made the embarrassing report public.

The trend of misrepresenting data is nothing new in the highly competitive education market. Claremont McKenna College, California, and New York's Iona College admitted earlier this year to falsifying their data. Also, Baylor University in Texas rewarded students who retook their SATs to increase the school's average score.