The School of Business at UC Riverside advanced 20 spots in the 2024 graduate school ranking by U.S. News & World Report. This improvement was attributed to a change in methodology that now prioritizes post-graduation earnings and the speed of job placement for graduates.
UCR’s Master of Business Administration program secured the 90th position on the business school list unveiled on April 9. Out of 506 accredited institutions surveyed, only 124 U.S. graduate-level business programs provided adequate data on post-graduation earnings and job placements to be included in the U.S. News ranking.
Rami Zwick, the associate dean of graduate programs for the School of Business, attributed the rise in rankings to the school’s strategic initiatives, including facility expansions and academic enhancements that align with the evolving needs of the global business environment.
The rankings were determined through reputational surveys distributed to over 15,000 academics and industry professionals, such as corporate recruiters. These surveys sought feedback from deans, program directors, and senior faculty members to assess the academic quality of each program.
Apart from the surveys, scoring criteria included selectivity factors like graduate exam scores, undergraduate GPA, and acceptance rates. Notably, a significant portion of the score now emphasizes post-graduate earnings and job placement success, with a focus on the speed of securing employment after graduation.
Additionally, the part-time MBA program at the business school climbed three positions to No. 73 among 269 universities. In the upcoming fall of 2024, the School of Business will celebrate its 55th anniversary alongside the 30th anniversary of the A. Gary Anderson School of Management with the launch of a new [ppp1].
UCR’s School of Education was ranked 86th out of 237 positions in the graduate school rankings, specifically evaluating doctoral-level education programs. The ranking considerations included research expenditures, assessments by education-school and graduate-school deans, total degrees awarded, student-faculty ratio, faculty awards, and selectivity based on acceptance rates.
U.S. News delayed the release of rankings for medical and graduate engineering programs following concerns raised by universities about the methodology. It is known for its undergraduate rankings published every fall. In the latest rankings from fall 2023, UCR rose 13 places to No. 76 overall among U.S. private and public universities and secured the 2nd spot nationally in social mobility, reflecting its ability to uplift graduates to a higher standard of living.