The online undergraduate programs at Upper Iowa University and its online master of business administration (MBA) program have been ranked for the third consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News published “2015 Best Online Education Programs” on its website January 7.
The UIU online bachelor’s programs are ranked in the top third nationwide, coming in at 87 of 283 colleges and universities who responded to the annual online education survey. UIU is one of only three Iowa-based, number-ranked schools on the U.S. News list.
The publication’s rankings of online graduate business programs changed substantially this year and are not considered comparable to the previous two years the magazine has done the rankings. Previously, U.S. News ranked all online graduate business programs (MBA and non-MBA) on one list. In 2015, the publication separated the rankings for MBA online programs from those of other non-MBA graduate business programs. U.S. News also changed the criteria and methodology for ranking of MBA programs, placing greater weight on reputation and admissions selectivity.
Under the new ranking system, UIU is ranked 123 of 223 colleges and universities that submitted data on their online MBA programs. Only 196 of those programs received a numeric ranking, and UIU is the only Iowa-based school ranked.