- Posted 09/01/2000
Contact: Andrew Svec, 218-281-8380
UMC Ranked “Best College” for Third Year
For a third consecutive year the University of Minnesota, Crookston, (UMC) has been ranked one of the best public regional colleges in the Midwest, according to U.S. News and World Report. UMC was again ranked in the top five--coming in at number two--in the category “Midwest Public Liberal Arts Colleges” (Tier 3).
UMC receives the recognition in U.S. News and World Report’s annual “best colleges” issue, scheduled for release on September 11. The rankings were made public today (Sept. 1, 2000) at the U.S. News website.
UMC Chancellor Don Sargeant commented on the ranking saying, “All colleges and universities are striving to improve. This ranking shows that UMC has been able to achieve and sustain a recognized level of academic quality. It’s one thing to get on this list, but it’s another thing to stay on it, and we know that students make decisions based on a college’s reputation.”
Each year the magazine ranks higher education institutions based on a process that compares several measures of excellence. The colleges and universities are categorized by size, mission, and region, and they are asked to supply institutional data via a survey each spring.
The indicators that U.S. News and World Report uses to capture the various dimensions of academic quality fall into seven broad categories: academic reputation; retention of students; faculty resources; student selectivity; financial resources; graduation rate performance; and alumni giving. UMC was honored out of a group of 428 similar institutions in the United States.
According to Robert J. Morse and Samuel Flanigan of U.S. News and World Report, “The indicators include ‘input’ measures that reflect a school's student body, its faculty, and its financial resources, and outcome measures that signal how well the institution does its job of educating students.”
UMC is beginning its eighth year as a baccalaureate degree granting university. It is also in its eighth year of providing notebook computers to every student.
To see all the U.S. News rankings online go to: www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/home.htm