U-M among the best on several college rankings

The University again made a strong showing in the late-summer college ranking season that this year went beyond the annual "Best Colleges" lists from U.S. News & World Report to include prominent placement in Newsweek's "Top 100 Global Universities" and its list of 25 "New Ivies".

Newsweek ranked U-M 11th among global universities and 3rd among the public universities named, with Harvard holding down the top spot, the University of California (U.C.), Berkeley 5th and U.C., San Francisco 9th.

Newsweek also placed U-M on its list of 25 colleges and universities that are attracting applicants from today's much larger pool of top students, many of whom, in years past, might have limited their choices to the eight schools of the Ivy League.

U-M rose in the U.S. News "Best Colleges" rankings among major public universities from 3rd to a tie for 2nd with the University of Virginia. The same two schools were tied at 24th among all major national colleges and universities, up from 25th the previous year. U-M has maintained its position in the top three public universities and top 25 nationally for many years.

The undergraduate program at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business remained at 3rd nationally, tied with U.C., Berkeley, and kept its top five ranking in five specialties—including another year at number one in management—accounting (4th), finance (4th), international business (3rd), marketing (2nd) and productions/operations management (5th).

The College of Engineering (CoE) undergraduate program rose from 7th nationally to a tie for 6th with Georgia Tech. In specialty rankings, CoE retained its top five ranking in five specialty areas: aerospace/aeronautical/astronomical (3rd); electrical/electronic/communications (5th); environment/environmental health (tie for 3rd with Johns Hopkins); industrial/manufacturing (3rd); materials (4th) and mechanical (4th).

U-M again was recognized in three areas of "Programs to Look For": undergraduate research/creative projects, learning communities and service learning.

In a measurement of economic diversity—defined by U.S. News by the percentage of undergraduates receiving federal Pell Grants for low-income students at the top 25 nationally ranked schools—U-M placed 7th (tied with Emory and Stanford) at 13 percent.

Teresa Sullivan, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, says the rankings recognize the strength of the University's programs in many disciplines and are a tribute to the quality of U-M's faculty and students.

"We are pleased that the rankings also focus attention on some of the special educational programs we offer undergraduates. It is important to note, however, that rankings are just one of several tools to use in evaluating the many and varied educational programs offered at Michigan or any other university," Sullivan says.

U-M-Dearborn also saw its ranking among Midwest public universities at the master's degree level go up from 6th place last year to 5th, and it climbed from 29th to a tie for 27th among all Midwest universities in that category. Dearborn also was ranked in undergraduate engineering programs nationally, tied for 20th up from 21st among universities whose highest degree is the master's.

According to Newsweek the evaluation of schools for its global university rankings is based on some of the measures used in well-known rankings published by Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Times of London Higher Education Survey, including highly-cited researchers in various academic fields, percentage of international faculty, percentage of international students, the ratio of faculty to students and the size of library holdings. Selection of the "25 New Ivies," according to Newsweek, was based on admissions statistics, as well as interviews with administrators, faculty, students and alumni.

The U.S. News rankings are available at www.usnews.com, the Newsweek rankings at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032542/site/newsweek/.

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