U.S. News & World Report released its annual list of Best Regional Colleges on Wednesday. The U.S. News rankings focus on academic excellence, with schools ranked on up to 16 measures of academic quality. The rankings emphasize outcomes, with graduation and retention rates carrying the most weight in the methodology at 30 percent. Other measures used in the calculation are undergraduate academic reputation, retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving rate.
Of the 98 institutions profiled for the South region, Kentucky Wesleyan College checked in at #27, a 13 percent improvement over last year. Wesleyan out-performed all but one other school (Asbury University, at #3) in the Commonwealth, and enjoyed the highest ranking for schools in the Western part of the state.
“I am very pleased, not only as president, but also as an alum, to see us ranked highly by U.S. News & World Report,” said President Barton D. Darrell. “Even though we ranked highly last year, I am even more excited that we made such a statistically significant jump to our current ranking. We take great pride in what we do at Kentucky Wesleyan and how we do it. Our faculty, staff, alumni, other supporters of the college and our terrific student body deserve credit for this recognition and ranking. We will, however, refuse to be satisfied and will work even harder to raise our rankings to even higher levels.”
Brescia University was named #50.
“When I look back on the list of accolades that Brescia University has received over the past year, I am grateful that the hard work and dedication of our faculty and staff is begin recognized,” stated Father Larry Hostetter, President of Brescia University. “But what is even more inspiring is seeing our students, year after year, take the quality education that they receive here at Brescia and use it to better themselves, their community, their churches and the lives of others. We are grateful to be included in this list of worthy higher education providers because it not only solidifies the difference we are making, but it showcases how talented our students, faculty, staff and alumni are. They are what makes the Brescia Difference so unique and powerful.”
A complete list of all rankings can be found at www.usnews.com/bestcolleges.
