Ohio State programs improve in new rankings from U.S. News & World Report

The Ohio State University saw improvement overall and across several university programs in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings for 2022.

Overall, the university moved up four spots and is ranked 49th among national universities and 17th among public universities. Individual programs also saw year-over-year improvement, including undergraduate computer science programs that increased four spots to rank 37th nationally and 18th among public universities. Undergraduate nursing program rankings were new to U.S. News & World Report this year, and Ohio State ranked 10th in the nation and 6th among public universities. Undergraduate business programs and best schools for veterans rankings improved nationally, by two and four spots, respectively.

Ohio State also notes improvement in undergraduate teaching, moving up two spots to 42nd in the nation and 9th for public universities. Kay Halasek, director of the Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning (ITL), said undergraduate teaching remains a university priority.

“Ohio State is committed to excellence in undergraduate student education, and the Institute for Teaching and Learning collaborates with and supports instructors who seek out and employ teaching methods shown to improve student learning,” she said. “We are grateful to all of our colleagues for their overwhelming interest and participation in our programs, including the New Faculty FIT, Teaching Support and Teaching Endorsement programs.”

The goal of the institute is to elevate excellent teaching practices across the university by offering instructional and research support for course and curriculum design, peer consultation, and teaching endorsements to recognize faculty who participate in extended professional learning.

“We also want to acknowledge and thank those faculty who have earned ITL research grants to study the impact of their practices on student learning – from individual classrooms to entire disciplinary curricula,” Halasek said. “National recognition for the university depends upon our instructors’ commitment to their own professional learning and scholarly teaching.”

The university was also recognized for the student first-year experience. Ohio State’s First Year Experience (FYE) program uses research, collaboration and expertise to identify and support students through their transition and retention to the university. Programs include university orientation, the First Year Success Series, a Focusing on the First Year conference and the Peer Leader program.

Peer leaders focus year-round on outreach and relationship development, expanding the FYE mission to holistically impact all new students as they progress through their first year. Students in this role, and similar peer mentoring efforts across the university, use their knowledge and perspective as experienced peers to connect new students to the people, resources and information essential for success in the first year.

“We’re delighted to be recognized for our First Year Experience programs,” said Beth Hume, vice provost for Student Academic Success and dean of Undergraduate Education. “Our success in supporting our first-year students is a testament to the collaborative efforts done by so many across the university, including our colleagues in academic units as well as those in the offices of Diversity & Inclusion and Student Life, to mention only a few. Our FYE team should be incredibly proud!”

The U.S. News rankings assess 1,466 U.S. bachelor’s degree-granting institutions on 17 measures of academic quality.