The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville has jumped seven spots in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings for public research universities.
UA now ranks 62nd, up from 69th a year earlier, and is tied with five other schools: Arizona State University, Louisiana State University, University at Albany-State University of New York, University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Kentucky.
UA leaders have set a goal to be among the top 50 public research universities by 2021.
The rankings -- which included several other colleges in the state -- factor in several criteria, such as academic reputation, faculty resources and student retention and graduation rates.
"We all have our opinions on what these rankings mean," Ashok Saxena, UA's provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, told UA's faculty senate on Wednesday, after the latest rankings were released.
In academia, the rankings come under fire for various reasons. Some complain about methodology that includes alumni giving and student selectivity, arguing that colleges resort to self-serving actions driven mainly by a desire to boost their rankings.
Saxena, however, emphasized the correlation between graduation rates and ranking, specifically referring to what's called "graduation rate performance." That part of the ranking methodology compares a school's actual graduation rate with a prediction made by U.S. News & World Report based on incoming students' test scores and other characteristics.
Saxena said if UA's six-year graduate rate of 62.3 percent matched the 70 percent rate predicted by the magazine, the university would rank 51st among public universities.
"Here is an example of where rankings are important, whether we like them or not, if you can use the rankings to drive the right kinds of things," Saxena said.
Among public undergraduate business programs, UA's Sam M. Walton College of Business ranked 27th, according to a statement from UA. Last year, it ranked 29th. For public and private business programs, UA ranked 43rd, up from 45th last year.
For national universities, including private schools, UA ranked 129th, up from 135th last year.
The publication lists only a numerical rank for the top three-fourths of colleges in each ranking category.
In the category of national liberal-arts colleges, Hendrix College in Conway ranked 82nd, in a tie with seven other colleges. Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia ranked 170th.
John Brown University in Siloam Springs ranked second in regional colleges in the South. Such colleges focus on undergraduate education and give out fewer than half of their degrees in liberal-arts disciplines. The University of the Ozarks in Clarksville ranked eighth in the category.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff ranked 45th, tied with Alderson Broaddus University in West Virginia among regional colleges in the South. Philander Smith College in Little Rock ranked 47th, tied with Concord University in West Virginia. Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge ranked 51st in a tie with two other schools. Central Baptist College in Conway ranked 71st.
Harding University in Searcy ranked 22nd among regional universities in the South, tied with the University of Tampa in Florida. Arkansas State University in Jonesboro ranked 53rd in a tie with four other schools.
The University of Central Arkansas in Conway ranked 68th in a tie with two other schools.
Henderson State University in Arkadelphia and Arkansas Tech University in Russellville ranked 87th in the category of regional colleges in the South in a tie with each other and four other schools.
Metro on 09/13/2015