UA News

This year, the Eller College's MIS program ranked first among all public universities and third overall.

U.S. News & World Report ranks The University of Arizona in a tie for 48th among public national universities, according to its latest rankings in America's Best Colleges 2010.

The magazine also ranked the UA's Eller College of Management in a tie for 15th place among undergraduate business programs at public universities.

The Eller College also was the one of only three institutions to maintain top-five status in the Management Information Systems business specialty since the inception of the U.S. News rankings in 1989, the two other institutions being MIT and Carnegie Mellon. This year, Eller's MIS program ranked first among all public universities and third overall.

"Compiling national rankings always makes for interesting conversation. What I'm pleased about is that The University of Arizona has consistently been regarded by the general public as being among the top public universities nationally."

"The MIS department here at the Eller College has ranked in the top five for over 20 years now, so it was no surprise that it came in at number three this year," said Paul Portney, dean of the UA Eller College of Management and Halle Chair in Leadership. "All I'd like to add is, look out one and two." 

The UA also ranks 102nd for undergraduate programs and the Eller College ranks in a tie for 15th place for undergraduate business programs among all public universities, and was in a tie for 25th overall.

The UA College of Engineering's undergraduate programs were ranked in a tie for 45th among schools whose highest degree is a doctorate, and tied for 24th among public universities.

U.S. News annually surveys colleges and universities by initially categorizing them by mission and in some cases by region. Data is gathered using seven indicators, which are assigned a weight by the magazine's staff, and colleges are ranked against their peers.

According to U.S. News, assessment by peers is given the greatest weight, 25 percent, in determining rankings. Other indicators include retention and graduation rates (20 percent), faculty resources (20 percent), student selectivity (15 percent), financial resources (10 percent), graduation rate performance (5 percent) and alumni giving rate (5 percent). The top school in each category is given a rating of 100 and then all other institutions in that category are calculated proportionally against that score.

Highlights of the college rankings are scheduled for publication in the September edition of U.S. News & World Report.