The NC State College of Education has achieved a ranking of No. 30 in the 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings by U.S. News & World Report, which were unveiled on April 9, 2024. This positions the College of Education within the top 7% of educational institutions nationwide, encompassing both public and private universities. Notably, this marks an advancement of one position from the previous year and a significant leap of 29 spots over the last decade.
In the realm of public colleges of education, NC State’s College of Education shares the No. 12 spot in the country.
The evaluation for the 2025 rankings involved a survey of 456 schools, with assessments based on various criteria including research activity (such as research expenditures and average expenditures per faculty member), quality assessment (comprising peer and educational professional evaluations), faculty resources (encompassing factors like doctoral degrees granted, faculty-student ratio, faculty accolades, and acceptance rate), and other parameters.
According to data from U.S. News, the total research expenditures of the College of Education’s faculty and researchers averaged $31.93 million across the fiscal years 2023 and 2022—representing the highest figure among all colleges of education in North Carolina and the 24th highest in the nation among both public and private universities. Moreover, the college conferred more doctoral degrees than any other college of education in North Carolina during 2022-2023 and demonstrated enhancements in both peer and educational professional evaluations.
Furthermore, within U.S. News’ education specialty category, the college’s educational administration program secured a shared ranking of No. 25 nationally.
Earlier this year, the College of Education attained a prominent position in U.S. News’ 2024 Best Online Master’s in Education Programs rankings, announced on February 7, 2024. Within the same rankings, the College of Education was recognized as the top institution in North Carolina and secured the No. 11 spot nationwide for online education programs tailored for veterans.