Engineering at Illinois 5th in U.S. News undergraduate rankings

The College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign continues be recognized as one of the nation’s top engineering programs. In the most recent undergraduate rankings, published this week by U.S. News and World Report, Engineering at Illinois ranks 5^th for engineering schools whose highest degree offered is a doctorate.

“While this is only one measure of excellence, we are pleased to be counted among the nation’s elite programs,” explained Michael Bragg, interim dean for the College of Engineering. “Our college actually moved up one position from last year’s undergraduate rankings, which is a reflection of how our peers’ perceive our overall program as well as individual engineering specialties.”

Each year, U.S. News ranks undergraduate and graduate engineering programs accredited by ABET (formerly known as Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology). The undergraduate rankings, published each fall, are based solely on a survey of engineering deans and senior faculty at all accredited programs, conducted during the spring. For 2013, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology continues to hold the top spot in the U.S. News rankings, followed by Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology and the University of California–Berkeley (tied for No. 3). Illinois tied with the Georgia Institute of Technology at No. 5.

“Our list of peer institutions has not changed much in the past few years,” Bragg added. “I think we are in really good company—eight of our engineering specialties ranked in the Top Five, and 10 are in the Top 10 nationally.” This year, Illinois was ranked No. 1 in two specialty areas—Agricultural Engineering and Civil Engineering (both up from No. 2 last year)—Engineering Physics and Materials Science are at No. 2.

“Educating the engineers of the future is our primary job,” Bragg said. “Our faculty members continue to improve our programs and we want to recognize their achievements."

This summer, Engineering at Illinois was ranked No. 4 worldwide in the "2012 Academic Ranking of World Universities in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences." Last year, the University of Illinois is ranked No. 5 on SmartMoney's unique "payback" survey of 50 top-priced schools that shows which alumni are reaping rewards in the job market.

The complete U.S. News and World Report undergraduate rankings were published on September 12, 2012. Additional information about the rankings for Engineering at Illinois can be found on its website.
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Contact: Rick Kubetz, writer/editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.