U.S. News: UW-Madison is the nation’s seventh best public university

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is the seventh best public university in the nation and 34th among all 234 national doctoral universities, according to the annual rankings released today by U.S. News and World Report.

The rankings are consistent with last year’s results, where UW–Madison was also 34th overall but eighth among public universities. The university moved ahead of the University of California-San Diego in the public rankings this year.

The magazine also ranked programs in undergraduate engineering and business for its 2007 edition of “America’s Best Colleges.” The UW-Madison College of Engineering and the School of Business both ranked 13th overall this year, compared to 12th a year ago. The business school’s specialty program in real estate was named second best in the nation, and its insurance specialty third in the nation. The College of Engineering’s chemical engineering specialty received the No. 4 ranking in the nation.

“These rankings can be useful for prospective students and parents, but they do not present a complete picture of what our university offers,” says Gary Sandefur, dean of the College of Letters and Science. “Campus life, enrichment opportunities and academic support are all important to the undergraduate experience, and we excel in those areas as well.”

In a section called “Programs to Look For,” U.S. News does provide recognition to universities that offer unique enrichment experiences. UW–Madison, for example, is one of 24 universities recognized for offering learning communities; one of 20 that offers intensive study-abroad; one of 35 that offers self-directed undergraduate research opportunities; and one of 39 that offers unique first-year experiences.

For the overall rankings, U.S. News relies on a combination of measures, including national peer assessment, student selectivity, faculty resources, financial resources, graduation and retention rates and graduation rate performance.

Other rankings published this week include:

• Washington Monthly ranked UW–Madison 11th overall among national universities through a unique ratings system that measures reasonable indicators of how much a school is benefiting the country. Indicators include how well a university performs as an engine of social mobility; how well it does in fostering scientific and humanistic research; and how well it promotes an ethic of service to country.
• The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), published by the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, placed UW–Madison 16th overall. The study looks at quality of education and faculty, research output and institutional size.
• Newsweek magazine’s International Edition published a ranking of “the Top 100 Global Universities,” in which UW–Madison was ranked 28th overall. The magazine used a variety of factors in its ranking, including published research records, percentage of international faculty and students, student-faculty ratio and library holdings.