Eastern Kentucky University again ranks among “America’s Best Colleges,” according to Forbes, the popular business magazine.
Of the 600 public and private colleges and universities recognized, EKU ranked No. 519. Because there are more than 4,000 college campuses nationwide, the ranking essentially places Eastern among the top 15 percent of colleges and universities.
The second annual report, compiled by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), ranks undergraduate institutions based on the quality of the education they provide, the experience of the students and how much they achieve.
The full list of schools contains 217 public and 383 private colleges and universities. “We also like to note,” said Forbes Deputy Editor David Ewalt, “that since we only publish 600 schools, any school on this list belongs to an elite group of the top 15 percent or so of all undergraduate institutions.”
“To our way of thinking, a good college is one that meets student needs,” the Forbes report said. “We focus on things which directly concern incoming students. Will my courses be interesting and rewarding? Will I get a good job after I graduate? Is it likely I will graduate in four years? Will I incur a ton of debt getting my degree?”
According to Forbes, the data is gathered from a variety of sources.
Twenty-five percent of the rankings is based on 4 million student evaluations of courses and instructors, as recorded on the Web site RateMyProfessors.com. Another 25 percent is based on post-graduate success, equally determined by enrollment-adjusted entries in Who's Who in America, and by a new metric, the average salaries of graduates reported by Payscale.com. An additional 20 percent is based on the estimated average student debt after four years. One-sixth of the rankings is based on four-year college graduation rates – half of that is the actual graduation rate, the other half the gap between the average rate and a predicted rate based on characteristics of the school. The last component is based on the number of students or faculty, adjusted for enrollment, who have won nationally competitive awards like Rhodes Scholarships or Nobel Prizes.
“Because this distinction recognizes the high quality of our faculty and academic instruction, as well as our devotion to student success, we are very proud and excited to once again be honored by Forbes,” said EKU President Doug Whitlock.
To view the complete rankings, visit www.forbes.com/colleges.
In the 2008 edition of “America’s Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report, EKU was ranked in the top tier of Southern Master’s Universities. Also, Eastern’s graduate program in occupational therapy ranked No. 24 nationally in that magazine’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2009” edition.
More recently, EKU was recognized by the Chronicle of Higher Education as a “Great College to Work For,” earned recognition from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for its commitment to community engagement, and was named by G.I. Jobs magazine as a Military Friendly School for 2010.
