By
Ayse Guner
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Business, engineering standing up
The UA business and engineering programs ranked higher than last year, according to the U.S. News and World Report survey American universities.
The U.S. News and World Report survey, which looks at 15 indicators of educational quality, released the top university rankings last week.
The University of Arizona ranked 44th among 51 national public universities in the second tier of colleges. Princeton, Harvard and Yale were ranked as the top three universities in the first tier.
The results of the rankings show both increases and decreases among various UA departments.
The business program in the Eller College of Business and Public Administration ranked 34th in the 1999 survey and now ranks 21st among national top programs and 13th among national public universities.
"The rankings are very excellent for a large public institution like the College of Business," said Pamela Perry-Hutchison, associate dean of the Eller College of Business and Public Administration.
The business program eventually hopes to place in the top 10 business schools, Perry-Hutchison said.
"We consistently work to improve, but we are pleased for now," she added.
The engineering programs in the UA College of Engineering and Mines ranked 45th in 1999 and moved up to 41st this year. The general management program earned a rank of 39.
The management information systems department - which ranked fifth - is one of the departments whose rank remained the same.
Olivia Liu Sheng, head of the MIS department, said while the MIS department has been ranked highly during the last 10 years, it has stayed at the same level for the last two years.
Sheng said she doesn't think the survey accurately reflects the department in terms of quality and value.
"We should get more support from the public and (the university) in order to keep up with the demand and technology," Sheng said.
In 1998, the MIS department lost six faculty members and dropped two ranks, prompting concern about retaining faculty, Sheng said.
However, "this year we are recovered," she added.
Jessica Stevens, a business sophomore, said she is taking MIS courses for her business math requirements but may change her major based on the rankings.
"Now I am in it and considering to major in MIS because of the rankings," Stevens said. "A lot of recruiters come here, so it's easier to find a job."
The U.S. News and World Report has ranked colleges since 1983 and evaluates more than 1,300 colleges across the nation.
"Seventy-five percent of a school's ranking is based on a formula that uses objective measures of academic quality such as graduation rates. The remaining 25 percent is based on a reputational survey," the U.S. News and World Report survey states.
The methods used in the survey change every year, said Richard Folkers, the magazine's media relations director.
"We are discouraging people from comparing the university with the previous year's records, because we always change methodology," Folkers said. "To keep up, we need to change the methods."
