FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas College of Engineering undergraduate program was ranked No. 68 among public doctoral-granting institutions in the recently released 2007 U.S. News and World Report rankings.

There are 350 undergraduate engineering programs ranked by U.S. News and World Report in its annual guide, America’s Best Colleges. The College of Engineering was ranked No. 106 in the country among the 181 private and public doctoral-granting institutions included in the survey. This was a five-point jump from the college’s best ranking yet in 2005 of 111. In 2006, the college was ranked 113^th in its peer group.

Dean Ashok Saxena took over the helm of the college in 2003 with the expressed goal of raising the perception of the College of Engineering nationwide and moving it into the group of top-ranked schools of engineering in the country.

“It is extremely gratifying to see the hard work of our faculty and staff begin to be reflected in the U.S. News and World Report rankings,” Saxena said. “The undergraduate program ranking is based solely on peer perception, and slowly we are seeing our peer institutions begin to take notice of the tremendous research and innovation that is going on here at the University of Arkansas.”

Based on a five-point scale, the College of Engineering peer assessment score was 2.4 in the 2007 guide, just one-tenth of a point shy of being included among the Top 100 accredited colleges of engineering (both private and public).

“If we continue to take the strides necessary to raise our perception among our peers, we will clearly reach our target of being among the top-ranked colleges of engineering in the country,” Saxena said.