UF’s online graduate business program was named the No. 1 program in the state and No. 4 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report Tuesday.
U.S. News publishes standings of online education programs by degrees. Based on a survey of criteria that includes graduation rates, faculty credentials and student services sent to hundreds of schools nationwide, 213 institutions were found to have an online master’s degree program. Of these schools, UF’s Hough Graduate School of Business came in at No. 4.
““It’s a testament to what we do here,” said the school’s Senior Associate Dean and Director S. Selcuk Erenguc. “When you put together the right components, like a world-class faculty, a selection process that brings in outstanding students and a very dedicated and capable technology team, you end up with a great program.”
Although he and the faculty are thrilled with the school’s top ranking, they plan to look over evaluations to pinpoint what to improve.
“We pay attention when their methodology indicates that some things can be improved upon,” said Associate Provost for Teaching and Technology Andy McCollough.
Also in the report was UF’s online graduate program in education, which ranked first in Florida and No. 18 nationwide, while the online graduate engineering program was acknowledged as No. 26 nationally and second in Florida. Based on the quality of its online bachelor’s degree programs, UF ranked 34 out of 237 American universities.
“We have worked really hard to meet the needs of today’s learners,” said Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Tom Dana.
The Economist awarded its highest grade of “excellent” to UF’s online business program — one of only two in the world to receive it.
“I think it’s affirmation of what we believe we’re about, which is trying to produce excellent content with excellent faculty for excellent students,” McCollough said. “It sets a standard for us: Once we have achieved excellence, we will not do anything to do less than that. Any programs that have not reached that level know what they have to do to get there.”
