FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — After edging into the top tier of colleges and universities nationwide in last year’s edition of the U.S. News & World Report's college rankings guide, the University of Arkansas returned to the third tier of institutions in the 2006 edition of America's Best Colleges.

The Sam M. Walton College of Business moved up one spot on the “Best Business Programs” ranking, from 41 to 40 overall, and 24th among public business colleges, up from 25th. (To read more about Walton, go to http://dailyheadlines.uark.edu/5135.htm)

 “We’re very pleased to see the improved ranking for the Walton College. This is a very fitting tribute to Doyle Williams as his time as dean of the college closes,” said Chancellor John A. White.  “With regard to the overall ranking, while this is disappointing in the short term, it is not completely unexpected, nor is it any indication that we have fallen back institutionally.

“The work of bringing our university to its full potential is not a sprint - it’s a marathon. The entire group of universities with which we are ranked is in this race as well, and it is our sense that while the University of Arkansas moved ahead smartly in many areas, other institutions are doing the same.

“I have said I am pleased - and I am, by the dedication and the effort every one on this campus makes toward our goals - but I am not satisfied. We have to 'run faster’ to keep from losing ground and we have to pick up the pace and 'run even faster’ to gain ground.

“The U.S. News report is a tool we use to see where we stand relative to our peers, and we examine it closely each year. We do so as an aid to assessment of progress, and not to determine our institutional direction. Our focus remains on meeting the institutional goals we have set and moving forward on benchmarks associated with our progress report. Clearly, improving significantly our six-year graduation rate is necessary for improvements in the rankings to occur. This is the right thing for Arkansas, and doing so will ultimately result in the recognition this university deserves, and more importantly, will be in the best service of our state.” 

The university’s graduation rate has improved from 41.8 percent in 1997 to 52.9 percent  in 2004. This and other measures of the university’s progress are available in the university progress report. The report describes statistically the overall achievement in selected areas of assessment, as determined by the 2010 Commission. For more information about the commission, go to http://chancellor.uark.edu/index_101_ENG_HTML.htm.

The values reported by the University of Arkansas to the ranking guide survey remained consistent in several categories, including annual giving (21 percent), entering freshmen in the top 10 percent of high school graduating class (36 percent) and the percentage of classes with enrollment under 20 students (41 percent).

Values for the U of A improved from last year’s edition in three categories: average freshman retention rate (increased from 82 to 83 percent); actual graduation rate (increased from 46 to 53 percent); and the acceptance rate (becoming more selective, going from 85 percent to 78 percent).

The university’s peer assessment score decreased slightly from 2.8 to 2.7 (out of a possible 5 points), and the percentage of classes with student enrollment of more than 50 students increased from 12 percent to 14 percent.

The university’s scores on the survey were as follows: the final overall score remained at 39, the same as last year. Rank overall was 125, five places below the 2005 ranking of 120.  The academic reputation rank was 137, 12 places below 2005’s 125.  Financial resources, the measure of how much is spent per student on instruction, research and related education expenditures was 105, 12 places below 2005’s 93. Graduation and retention rank improved significantly from 172 in 2005 to 167. Student selectivity improved from 79 to 77. Faculty resources declined from 70 to 77. Alumni giving went from 57 to 59. The graduation rate performance rank went from 193 to 194.

“We knew that we were on the very cusp of the top tier last year,” said Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Bob Smith. “We were somewhat prepared for this possibility, though we expect that it is a temporary condition.

“These rankings are like snapshots. They tell us where we were at a given point in the life of the university. We have already moved past that point in time. We can’t spend too much time looking back, because our focus has to be the future.”

Other Southeastern Conference institutions included in the third tier are Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University and University of Mississippi. Vanderbilt University, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, the University of Alabama, Auburn University, the University of Tennessee, the University of South Carolina and the University of Kentucky are all included in the top tier of institutions.