Purdue jumps up 12 places in world rankings

Carolyn Shelby — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:50:28 +0000

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Times Higher Education – QS World University Rankings released its list of the top universities on Wednesday (Oct. 7), and Purdue University is ranked 87th.

Purdue jumped 12 ranks in 2009 (from 99th in 08). Purdue tied this year with Prince William's alma mater, the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom.

This is a 12-place increase for Purdue, which was ranked 99th in 2008. Purdue tied this year with the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom.

“This dramatic rise in rankings reaffirms Purdue’s status as a world-class university,” said Purdue President France A. Córdova. “Purdue’s international reputation continues to grow thanks to our international students and study abroad programs, and well-known researchers who are making a difference, such as professor Gebisa Ejeta, who just won the World Food Prize.”

Purdue’s engineering and information technology programs also are ranked 37th, while life sciences and biomedicine ranked 79th, and natural sciences ranked 94th. The complete listings are available at http://www.topuniversities.com/

“This world-wide recognition of our academics, scholarship and global impact tells prospective students that Purdue will prepare them to successfully compete and collaborate in a global economy and helps us recruit the very best educators and scholars to the university,” said Randy Woodson, Purdue’s executive vice president for academic affairs and provost.

The other top 100 Big Ten institutions ranked are University of Michigan at No. 19, University of Wisconsin at No. 61 and University of Illinois at No. 63.

The rankings were based on reviews or data related to peer institutions, employers, students, research performance, and international faculty and students. In total 9,386 academics and 3,281 employers responded to the surveys related to these rankings.

The Times Higher Education, which was founded in 1971, is a weekly magazine of universities from around the world. Top Universities Guide, the official guide to the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings, contains advice on selecting, applying and financing higher education.

These rankings also are reported by U.S.News & World Report and will be available at http://www.usnews.com/sections/education/worlds-best-colleges/index.html

In August 2009 U.S.News & World Report ranked Purdue 22nd among the nation’s public universities. This was a four-place increase from 26th in 2008. Purdue also was ranked 61st among all universities, and this too was an improvement from 66th in 2008.

In April 2009, the magazine also ranked several of Purdue’s graduate programs, including areas in engineering, management, education, liberal arts, science and pharmacy, as among the nation’s best.

Purdue ranks 22nd among nation’s public universities, 61st overall

Carolyn Shelby — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:53:39 +0000

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University ranked 22nd among the nation’s public universities and 61st among all universities, according to U.S. News & World Report magazine rankings released Thursday (Aug. 20).

Purdue University ranked 22nd (up from 26th in 2008) among the nation's public universities and 61st (up from 66th in 2008) among all universities.

The ranking is a move up from Purdue’s ranking of 26th last year. Purdue ranked 61st among all universities, tied with Clemson University, Fordham University, Texas A&M University and University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. This also is an improvement for Purdue, which ranked 66th last year.

“These rankings reflect our continued commitment to the student experience. It has been a year since we adopted our New Synergies strategic plan, and these rankings show that it is working,” President France A. Córdova said. “We are focusing our efforts on student success, and it is paying off. Students from across the nation and around the world know that when they come to Purdue, they will receive a high quality education due to the outstanding work of our faculty and staff.”

Factors that helped Purdue move up in the rankings are higher graduation rates and more classes with fewer students, Córdova said. She also noted that the alumni giving rate increased from 16 percent to 18 percent.

In the “Programs to Look For” category, Purdue is among 14 public and private universities cited for the quality of its internship programs, 24 cited for their first-year experience, and 22 cited for writing in the disciplines.

“It’s exciting and rewarding to see that the plans we have put in place to improve the academic experience of our students is being recognized,” said Randy Woodson, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost.

“The improved rankings, while gratifying, are not the goal. The goal is to make a difference for students, and the rankings are just a reflection of the fact that we are making strides on that front.”

Purdue’s College of Engineering tied for ninth nationally among doctoral-granting universities, sharing the spot with Cornell University and University of Texas-Austin. The college also ranked ninth last year.

The Krannert School of Management shared the 21st position with Georgetown University, Pennsylvania State University and University of Washington among doctoral-granting universities. Krannert has consistently been included in the top 25, ranking 17th last year and 21st in 2007.

Specialty programs in both management and engineering also ranked among the top five in several categories.

Among engineering specialties, four Purdue schools placed in the top five nationally: biological/agricultural, No. 2; industrial/manufacturing, No. 3; aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical, No. 4; and civil, tied at No. 5 with Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Purdue’s Krannert School had two top five specialty rankings: No. 4 in productions/operations management, and No. 4 in quantitative analysis and methods, tied with University of California-Berkeley.

The data for determining the nation’s best institutions of higher education come from questionnaires U.S. News sends to all accredited four-year colleges and universities. The magazine then determines its rankings based on measures that fall into seven broad categories: assessment by administrators at peer institutions; retention of students; faculty resources; student selectivity; financial resources; alumni giving; and “graduation rate performance,” the difference between the proportion of students expected to graduate and the proportion who actually do.

The magazine bases its specialty rankings on a spring 2009 survey of deans and department heads at peer institutions. The schools receiving the most votes are listed.

Information on the rankings can be found at the U.S.News & World Report Web site at http://www.usnews.com/. The magazine’s college guidebook, “America’s Best Colleges,” contains a directory of the more than 1,400 institutions.

More on Purdue’s past U.S. News and other rankings is available online at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/ranking.html.

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