UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS IMPROVES IN FOUR CATEGORIES IN 2004 EDITION OF U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT’S "AMERICA’S BEST COLLEGES"

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The University of Arkansas finds itself ranked 127th out of 248 national doctoral universities in the 2004 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s "America’s Best Colleges." The ranking places the University in the third tier, and it remains just on the cusp of breaking into the second tier.

Of the seven categories used to rank institutions, the University of Arkansas saw improvements in four of those categories: "Academic Reputation" rose from 125 to 124; "Financial Resources" jumped from 109 to 100; "Student Selectivity" climbed to 69 from 70; and "Alumni Giving" improved from 63 to 60.

"We’re especially pleased to see our rankings in 'America’s Best Colleges’ continue to improve," Chancellor John A. White said. "The improvements reflect the attention and respect the University is garnering at the national level. They also demonstrate that the goals established by the 2010 Commission are well within our reach."

The University’s "peer assessment score" for academic quality remained at 2.8 (out of 5.0 scale), ranking fifth among third-tier institutions.

"Seeing the University positioned so closely to the top of the third tier will serve as motivation to continue along the path that will lead us to be counted among the top national universities," White added. "We must view the ranking systems of U.S. News and World Report and other national guide books as a form of interim reporting, showing us not only how we compare with our peers, but also how much we improve individually each year."

The one key area that weakens the University’s position involves graduation rates. In the 2003 edition of "America’s Best Colleges," the University’s graduation rate rested at 45 percent, receiving a "graduation performance rate" score of - 7 against a predicted graduation rate of 52 percent. In U.S. News’ 2004 edition just released, the University’s graduation rate improved one percentage point to 46; however, the "graduation performance rate" fell to -10 against a projected 56 percent prediction.

"We have been battling our graduation statistics for several years, but our history indicates those numbers are changing for the better," Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Bob Smith said. "We have seen our numbers improve steadily from 42 percent to their current position of 46 percent during the past several years, and projections for future graduation rates are promising (55 percent in 2004, 64 percent in 2005 and 64 percent in 2006). However, this process does take time and U.S. News uses a four-year moving average of graduation rates. Therefore, it will take several years for the improvements made in recent years to show up in U.S. News’ metrics."

"Because of Chancellor White’s emphasis on improving those rates to 66 percent by 2010, and because of numerous programs we have implemented to increase retention rates, we should see a significant upswing in retention numbers and graduation rates, especially when we see the freshman classes of 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 work their way into the equation."