U.S. News & World Report ranks education and engineering colleges among America’s best

Lehigh University has once again been listed among the top 50 of America’s best graduate schools by U.S. News & World Report. 

Both of Lehigh’s schools that are eligible for this recognition remain at the same rankings level as last year in the magazine’s annual rankings: The College of Education was ranked No. 41 out of 279 colleges of education surveyed and the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science was ranked No. 42 out of 198 colleges of engineering that grant doctoral degrees. 

The rankings appear in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools for 2011” issue, which will be available on newsstands April 27. 

Gary Sasso, dean of the College of Education, says he is pleased the college continues “in a tradition as one of the top graduate research units in the country.

“Excellence in graduate programs in colleges of education can best be measured by the rigor of scholarship, quality of instruction, dissemination of cutting-edge findings, and the success of students who complete their degree programs,” he says. “I'm very pleased to be able to say that the College of Education at Lehigh excels across each of these critical variables.”

S. David Wu, dean and Iacocca Professor, P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science, says he is pleased to see a “notable increase in the quality and quantity of our graduate program as reflected by the selectivity rating and doctoral/overall student population. 

“Graduate education in engineering is highly competitive as advancements in areas such as health, energy, and environment are occurring at a pace faster than ever before,” he says. “To stay competitive, we must aggressively continue recruiting and retaining talented people, creating innovative programs, and investing in state-of-the-art research infrastructure.

Overall, Lehigh University is also recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation’s outstanding research universities. The university was ranked No. 35 in the magazine’s annual list of “America’s Best Colleges” for 2010, which was published in August 2009. 

In that ranking, Lehigh achieved distinction in several key categories, including alumni giving (20th ), student selectivity (27th ) and graduation and retention rate (34nd). In addition, Lehigh was ranked 25th in the nation for “best value.”