August 22, 2008

Purdue's undergraduate engineering, business ranked among tops in nation

Purdue also is among 14 public and private universities cited for its internship programs in the "Programs to Look For" category.

Purdue's College of Engineering tied for ninth nationally among doctoral-granting public universities, sharing the spot with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The University of Notre Dame was ranked 46th.

The Krannert School of Management shared the 17th position with the University of Notre Dame, Ohio State University and the University of Maryland-College Park among doctoral-granting universities. Krannert was 21st in last year's rankings. Indiana University's Kelley School of Business tied for 11th with Cornell University.

Both management and engineering also were in the top five of several specialty categories.

"These rankings reflect our continued commitment to excellence," Purdue Provost Randy Woodson said. "Students from across the nation know that when they come to Purdue they will receive a quality education due to the outstanding work of our faculty and staff.

"Purdue continues to add tremendous value to the lives of our graduates as they enter the work force well-prepared and ready to meet the challenges of a global marketplace."

Overall, Purdue's national rank of 26th tied with Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, the University of Connecticut and the University of Iowa among public doctoral degree-granting universities.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology repeated as the top-ranked engineering undergraduate degree-granting university in the rankings. Stanford University and the University of California, Berkley, tied for second.

"Purdue's College of Engineering continues to rank among the top institutions in the country thanks to the dedication of the faculty, staff, alumni and corporate partners," said Leah Jamieson, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering.  "The top 10 ranking of our undergraduate program reflects Purdue Engineering's longstanding commitment to undergraduate education."

Among engineering specialties, Purdue's industrial/manufacturing engineering ranked No. 3; aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering, No. 4; biological/agricultural, No. 5 (tied with the University of California, Davis); mechanical, No. 7; civil, No. 7 (tied with University of Michigan); electrical, No. 9; computer, No. 11; chemical, No. 13; materials, No. 13 (tied with Ohio State University); environmental, No. 15.

Last year, the college enrolled more than 6,300 undergraduate students and more than 2,200 graduate students. Numbers for this fall aren't yet available.

The College of Engineering is in the midst of an aggressive growth campaign. Last fall, it opened the $53 million, 126,000-square-foot Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. Also planned are the 41,000-square-foot Seng-Liang Wang Hall, a third building for the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; the 42,000-square-foot Roger B. Gatewood Mechanical Engineering Wing; and a new Ray W. Herrick Laboratories.

Purdue's Krannert School also fared well in specialty rankings. In productions/operations management, it ranked No. 2 behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was the top-ranked public university. In quantitative analysis and methods Krannert ranked No. 4 behind MIT, University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon University and also was the top-ranked public university. In supply chain management/logistics, it moved up one place from last year, to rank No. 9. In management information systems, it ranked No. 15. Its management program was ranked 21, tied with Ohio State.

"We are extremely pleased to have moved up four spots in the U.S.News undergraduate business rankings," said Richard A. Cosier, Krannert School dean and Leeds Professor of Management. "Our position as a top 20 program overall and top 10 program among public universities is a reflection of our continued emphasis on the undergraduate program at the Krannert School. It speaks highly of the quality of our faculty, staff, students and alumni in this very competitive marketplace.

"We also are delighted that our production/operations management ranking, one of the hallmarks of our school, rose a spot to second, behind only MIT, while quantitative analysis remained firmly in the top five."

The University of Pennsylvania was ranked the top undergraduate business school, followed by MIT and a third-place tie between the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan.

The Krannert School of Management had 2,746 undergraduate students enrolled during the 2007-08 academic year majoring in management, accounting, industrial management and economics, 623 master's students and 98 doctoral students. It offers master's degrees in management and human resource management; four executive MBAs through a combination of distance-learning and part-time residence on campus; bachelor's degrees in accounting, economics, management and industrial management; and the doctorate.

More on Purdue's past U.S.News and other rankings is available online at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/ranking.html .

The data for determining the nation's best institutions of higher education come from questionnaires sent 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 2008 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  https://www.usnews.com/ . The magazine's college guidebook, "America's Best Colleges," contains a directory of the more than 1,400 institutions.

The U.S.News & World Report issue ranking America's best colleges and universities will be on newsstands Monday (Aug. 25).

Writers: Greg McClure, (765) 494-9394, gmcclure@purdue.edu

Judith Barra Austin, (765) 494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu

Tanya Brown, (765) 496-9711, tanyabrown@purdue.edu  

Sources: Randy Woodson, phone, woodson@purdue.edu

Leah Jamieson, (765) 494-5346, lhj@purdue.edu

Richard A. Cosier, (765) 494-2096, rcosier@purdue.edu  

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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