University of Arkansas Included Among Best in 2006 Fiske Guide to Colleges

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.  The University of Arkansas joins nine other Southeastern Conference institutions and more than 300 top-rated colleges and universities in the 2006 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. The university remained consistent with the previous year’s ranking with three-star ratings in the academic quality and quality of life categories and a four-star score for overall social environment.

The university, which is categorized as “moderately expensive” in the guide’s price index, remains Arkansas’ only public institution included in the 22nd edition of the Fiske Guide. Hendrix University, a private institution in Conway, is also included in the guidebook.

“The Fiske Guide provides some valuable insight to how the University of Arkansas compares with its peers,” Chancellor John A. White said. “It is good to see information included within the university’s profile that details a number of initiatives currently under way on campus designed to encourage the institution’s growth and competitiveness for many years to come.”

In its profile, the Fiske Guide states that the U of A is “working to transform its flagship public university into a nationally competitive, student-centered research institution, to help stop the flight of the state’s young and talented, and to jump-start the Arkansas economy.

Specifically, Fiske recognizes the $300 million gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation, the Innovation Center located within the Arkansas Research and Technology Park, the Pat Walker Health Center and the Northwest Quad residence hall as positive strides taken to enhance the university’s national stature. The profile also details diversity initiatives led by Chancellor White and the success of introductory programs for entering UA freshmen, including First Year Experience and Rock Camp.

Created in 1982 by Edward B. Fiske, former education editor of The New York Times, the guidebook is regarded as the first publication to rank colleges and universities through a dedicated scoring system.

Additionally, the Fiske Guide to Colleges provides prospective students with institutional data on enrollment, standardized test score ranges, male-to-female enrollment percentages and six-year graduation rates. The guide combines that criteria with data collected from institutional and student surveys to score the selected institutions in three categories: academic quality, social environment and quality of life.

Among SEC institutions included were the U of A, the University of Alabama, the University of Georgia, the University of Kentucky, the University of South Carolina and the University of Tennessee with three-star academic ratings. The University of Florida and Vanderbilt University were the SEC’s only four-star academic institutions. Auburn University and Louisiana State University each received two-star academic scores. The University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University were not included.

Of its neighboring Big 12 institutions included within the guide, the U of A joins Iowa State University, Texas Tech University, Baylor University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Nebraska and the University of Missouri as three-star academic institutions. Texas A & M, the University of Kansas and the University of Colorado received four-star academic scores, and the University of Texas received an academic score of four and a half stars. Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University were not included in the guidebook.

Of the 304 colleges and universities included in the guidebook, 133, or 44 percent, received three stars for academic quality ratings. Ninety-three institutions, or 31 percent, received either three and a half or four stars for academic quality. Sixty-seven institutions received either a four and a half or five-star academic quality score, and 11 colleges and universities received two-star academic scores.