The University of Hawaii’s flagship Manoa campus dropped two spots on this year’s U.S. News & World Report list of best colleges published last week.
UH-Manoa ranks as the 158th-best school in the nation out of 201 rated public and private universities.
The list covers institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs, along with an emphasis on faculty research. The publication said it uses up to 16 indicators of academic excellence to rank schools.
Manoa’s programs earned 36 out of 100 possible points and tied with two other schools: the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Ivy League schools topped the list — Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Columbia — while Stanford University rounded out the top five.
Among public universities, UH-Manoa ranked 85th best in the nation out of 117 schools, down from the No. 83 spot last year.
UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple said despite the slight drops, Manoa’s rankings are “still admirable.”
“Moving two points up or down on the U.S. News and World Report rankings is considered a marginal change, and our 2014 rankings … are still admirable, given that the collective data of 1,800 campuses was considered,” Apple said in a statement to the Star-Advertiser. “But more important than the concept of any ranking is our priority mission, which is ensuring student success. We remain firmly committed to that goal, and take very seriously our role of educating the people of Hawaii.”
Separately, Manoa’s business college ranked 14th out of 28 programs on the list of best undergraduate international business rankings.
“The U.S. News international business category has become more and more competitive as business schools learn the value of this field in today’s global business environment,” Vance Roley, dean of the Shidler College of Business, said in a statement. “As one of the original pioneers in the development of an international business program with an Asia-Pacific focus, the college continues to integrate classroom learning with real-world experience.”
The business college also landed in the No. 119 spot for undergraduate business programs in the nation (tied with Michigan State University), up from No. 141 last year. That list is based on peer surveys of programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
UH’s other four-year campuses — UH-Hilo and West Oahu — were not rated.
Two local private universities ranked on the list of top public and private universities serving the Western region. The list covers schools that offer a full range of undergraduate programs and some graduate programs.
Hawaii Pacific University’s programs took the No. 71 spot, and Chaminade University came in 80th out of 90 Western schools.
HPU, the state’s largest private university, said it climbed 10 spots on this year’s list.
“We’ve charted a bold vision for HPU, to be consistently recognized among the top 10 private master’s granting universities in the West, and I’m pleased with the progress that (the) new rankings show toward that goal,” HPU President Geoffrey Bannister said in a statement.
Brigham Young University-Hawaii was rated 18th best among 23 Western colleges that focus on undergraduate education.
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