Michigan Technological University has moved up in the latest US News & World Report ranking for Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs. Michigan Tech is now ranked 66th among 206 undergraduate engineering programs at colleges or universities that offer doctoral degrees in engineering. Michigan Tech’s ranking was 75th in the same rankings last year.
Janet Callahan, Dean of the College of Engineering at Michigan Tech, said that while she is pleased to see the rankings increase during her first year as dean, she is not surprised. “The faculty at Michigan Tech are incredible. The rise reflects the growing reputation of Michigan Technological University’s strong engineering programs,” she says. “We’re different from most other universities because of our central focus on engineering and technology. What this means for students is that if they love solving high-tech problems—they belong here!”
The US News rankings of undergraduate engineering programs accredited by ABET, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, are based solely on the judgments of deans and senior faculty at peer institutions. Additional details on the methodology may be found here, which states:
US News surveyed engineering school deans and faculty members in spring 2019 and asked them to rate each program they were familiar with on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished) for these rankings. Two peer assessment surveys were sent to each ABET-accredited engineering program.
US News has separate rankings for 206 undergraduate engineering programs at colleges or universities that offer doctoral degrees in engineering and for 210 engineering programs at colleges where the terminal degree in engineering is a bachelor’s or master’s. Two separate surveys and respondent groups were used, which means that deans and senior faculty only rated engineering programs within their institution’s ranking category.
Research at the graduate level often influences the undergraduate curriculum, and engineering schools with doctoral programs in engineering tend to have the widest possible range of undergraduate engineering courses and program offerings.
In spring and early summer 2019, of those surveyed in the group where the terminal degree in engineering is a bachelor’s or master’s, 51.7% returned ratings; 71.6% did so for the doctoral group. This compares to a response rate of 33% in the engineering bachelor’s or master’s survey in 2018 and 58% for the doctoral survey in 2018.
US News used the two most recent years’ responses to calculate weighted average scores of programs in both categories. For example, a program that received 55% of its total ratings in 2019 and the remaining 45% in 2018 would have 55% of its overall score determined by its 2019 survey results and 45% by its 2018 survey results.
Learn more at mtu.edu/engineering.