Engineering, business in U.S. News top 50

KU programs, schools again rank among best public universities in nation

U.S. News again placed KU and its business and engineering schools among the top 50 in the nation in its “America’s Best Colleges” rankings released Aug. 20.

KU placed 42nd among public universities that offer a range of undergraduate majors as well as master’s and doctoral degrees.

The schools of business and engineering were ranked 30th and 45th respectively among their undergraduate programs at public universities. U.S. News did not rank any other professional schools in this survey.

In the assessment of academic quality by chancellors, presidents and chief academic officers at national universities, KU rated 3.4 on a scale of 5.0, or tied for 29th among all public national universities.

Assessment by top academic leaders is the leading criterion used by U.S. News to judge schools. Other criteria include acceptance rates, graduation rates, the proportion of classes with fewer than 20 students, retention rates, faculty resources, financial resources and alumni giving rates.

A total of 248 national universities were evaluated in the survey.

In April, U.S. News ranked 25 KU graduate programs in the top 25 among the nation’s public universities in its 2005 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools.”