U.S. News rankings again reflect improved UNL

For the fifth-straight year, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has made U.S. News and World Report's annual evaluation of America's Best Colleges' Top 50 list of Public National Universities. UNL is ranked near the top third of all national universities both public and private, (89th out of 264), and is tied with four other universities, including the University of Kansas and Iowa State University, as 40th out of 164 public universities in the "Top 50" list for public national universities. This places UNL among the top one-fourth of all public universities.

In the past five years, UNL has moved from 107th to 89th in the "Best National Universities" list and from 52nd to 40th in the "Public National" universities. The 2009 rankings were released at midnight eastern time today.

In each U.S. News category, data on up to 15 indicators of academic quality are gathered from each school and tabulated according to the magazine's methodology. Schools are ranked within categories by their total weighted score. UNL continues to show improvement in factors directly related to student success, including retention and graduation rates as well as the academic credentials of the entering class.

UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman said while he retains skepticism of rankings overall, "These rankings are used by students in comparing universities and it is satisfying that our key factors relating to student achievement are very competitive. In the most subjective factor used by the magazine, the results of a peer survey, UNL has fluctuated between 3.3 and 3.1 for several years," he said.

Perlman noted the rankings continue to come under scrutiny among academia. He has been critical of the rankings for failing to identify what truly tells stories of success and productivity on campuses: research productivity, stories of student achievement, faculty initiatives and service to the state's citizens.

"Nonetheless, we are happy to have another confirmation of what we experience every day -- that UNL is more attractive to students because it is providing them with an enhanced educational experience," he said.