photo by: Mike Yoder

KU students visit and pass between classes outside of Wescoe Hall and across Jayhawk Boulevard from Strong Hall Friday, Feb. 6, 2015.

Kansas University is 115th among national universities on the latest U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges list, which was released Wednesday. The 2016 ranking is a few spots behind KU’s 2015 U.S. News ranking of 106th, and that was a few spots behind KU’s 2014 U.S. News ranking of 101st.

According to the new U.S. News list, KU tied for 115th with four other schools: Duquesne University, Temple University, University of St. Thomas and University of Utah.

Of national college ranking systems, U.S. News is perhaps the most oft-cited and influential. U.S. News also releases rankings of graduate programs each spring (here’s our story on KU’s 2015 grad program rankings). Schools in U.S. News’ “national universities” category offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and doctoral programs, according to the magazine. National universities also are distinguished for their commitment “to producing groundbreaking research.” Here’s more information on methodology used for ranking schools.

The schools ranked highest on the 2016 U.S. News national universities list are the usual Ivy League suspects: Princeton at No. 1, Harvard at No. 2 and Yale at No. 3. Columbia, Stanford and University of Chicago tied for No. 4.

Other Big 12 schools that U.S. News ranked higher than KU are Texas (52), Iowa State (108) and Oklahoma (108). Fellow large Midwest public schools Iowa (82), Colorado (89), Nebraska (103) and Missouri (103) also were ranked higher than KU.

Other Big 12 schools ranked on the national universities list were K-State (146), Oklahoma State (149), Texas Tech (168) and West Virginia (175).

Compared to other public schools on the list, KU tied for 55th, down a few spots from 50th last year, according to a statement KU released in response to the rankings. The university said it would continue focusing on improving student success and that its strategic plan, Bold Aspirations, includes several new efforts to better prepare students for the workforce and to encourage them to stay enrolled and graduate.

“It can take time for our success to be reflected in rankings,” provost and executive vice chancellor Jeff Vitter said in KU’s statement. “KU has initiated several student-focused programs through Bold Aspirations that target retention and keep students focused on graduating.”

Regarding individual schools within the university, KU said the School of Engineering increased its ranking on the U.S. News list, moving to a tie for 40th among public schools, up from a tie for 41st last year. The School of Business dropped to a tie for 39th among public schools, down from a tie for 31st last year.
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