Baylor Moves Up in U.S. News Rankings - Engineering Nears Top 10, Business Entrepreneurship Ranked No. 15
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Baylor University moved up one place to No. 79 among 262 institutions in the Best National Universities category, while engineering and entrepreneurship continue to be among the nation's top programs, in the 2011 edition of Best Colleges by U.S.News & World Report.
The U.S. News rankings come on the heels of the university's "A" grade for the strength of its core curriculum in a study released this week by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.
"We are pleased to move up in the U.S. News rankings, but we know that our true success is measured by so much more than that," Baylor President Ken Starr said. "Baylor was recognized nationally this week for the rigor of our educational experience, and all this as we welcome an expected record freshman class that is of the highest academic quality and diversity. We also were selected again by the Fiske Guide as 'Best Buy' for providing outstanding educational value for our students and their families. We remain firmly committed to our mission as a leading Christian, while providing an exceptional academic experience for our students."
In the U.S. News rankings, Baylor moved up to the third-ranked university in the Big 12, behind only the University of Texas at Austin at No. 45 and Texas A&M University at No. 63, and past the University of Colorado at Boulder, which was ranked No. 86 this year. Other Big 12 rankings included Iowa State University and University of Missouri at No. 94, University of Kansas and University of Nebraska at No. 104, University of Oklahoma at No. 111, Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University at No. 132 and Texas Tech University at No. 159.
Baylor is the fifth-ranked university in Texas, behind Rice University, UT-Austin, SMU and Texas A&M.
U.S. News also gave high marks to Baylor's engineering and business undergraduate programs.
Undergraduate Engineering Continues to Climb
Baylor's engineering program continues to be highly ranked, moving up to No. 11 among universities with the "Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs." The category is for schools whose highest engineering degree offered is a bachelor's or master's degree. However, Baylor will soon begin offering a research-oriented Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering, which was approved by the Baylor Board of Regents in February.
"Baylor engineering faculty and students are making great strides, and as a result, it is no surprise we're knocking on the door of a top 10 national ranking," said Dr. Benjamin S. Kelley, dean of Baylor's School of Engineering and Computer Science and professor of engineering. "And this is great recognition for Baylor, too, to have one up-and-coming program be the university's highest-ever ranked school or college."
During the past decade, the school has added four master's degree programs and doubled the size of its faculty. The new doctoral program will provide a significant boost to the university's collaborative and interdisciplinary research base, as well as the level of externally generated research funding. This reflects the university's commitment to the newly established Central Texas Technology and Research Park, and the park's first project, the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC), of which engineering will be a significant player.
Undergraduate Business Programs Highly Ranked
Baylor's undergraduate business program in the Hankamer School of Business is ranked No. 57 in this year's rankings by U.S. News. Baylor's entrepreneurship program - which was one of the first of its kind in the country - is 15th among the nation's best entrepreneurship programs.
"Baylor engages business students in real-life learning opportunities as well as rigorous classroom work," said Dr. Terry S. Maness, dean of Baylor's Hankamer School of Business and professor of finance. "We continue to strengthen our pioneering Entrepreneurship program by integrating entrepreneurship with other disciplines, such as engineering, computer science and theatre, as well as expanding the reach of the program to other countries."
The exclusive rankings, which include rankings of more than 1,400 schools nationwide, are available at www.usnews.com/colleges, and also will be published in the September issue of U.S.News & World Report, on newsstands starting Aug. 31.
The U.S. News college rankings group schools based on categories created by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The 2011 Best Colleges package provides the most thorough examination of how more than 1,400 accredited four-year schools compare on a set of up to 16 widely-accepted indicators of excellence: peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, and, for National Universities and National Liberal Art Colleges, "graduation rate performance" and high school counselor ratings of colleges.
What Will They Learn? Survey
Baylor also this week received more national recognition for its academic experience. The university was one of only 16 among the 714 institutions surveyed to receive an "A" in ratings released in the "What Will They Learn?" survey by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.
The survey assigns each institution a grade from "A" to "F" based on how many of the following seven core subjects it requires: Composition, Mathematics, Science, Economics, Foreign Language, Literature, and American Government or History. The grade is based on a detailed review of the latest publicly-available online course catalogs. Baylor's core curriculum includes all but a required economics course.
https://www.whatwilltheylearn.com/a-list.
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