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DSU Ranked #3 Top Midwestern Public Comprehensive College

Madison – U.S. News & World Report released America’s Best Colleges 2003 today, naming Dakota State University as the third Top Midwestern Public Comprehensive College. 

“This is a significant recognition for Dakota State to be ranked third in the Midwest,” said Dr. Jerald Tunheim, president of Dakota State University.  “It is always good to be recognized from a national source.”

According to U.S. News, a Comprehensive College is an institution that focuses on undergraduate education and offers a range of degree programs—in the liberal arts, which account for fewer than half of its bachelor’s degrees, and in professional fields such as business and education.  Seventy-five percent of a school’s ranking is based on a formula that uses objective measures of academic quality such as graduation rates, retention, and faculty resources.  The remaining 25 percent is based on a reputational peer survey.  U.S. News asks the president, provost, and dean of admissions at each school to rate the quality of academic programs for schools in the same category, including their own.

To be included in the rankings, a college or university must be accredited and have a total enrollment of at least 250 students.