Brown, URI, RIC, PC, UMass Dartmouth graduate programs ranked among best in 2019 U.S. News report

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT released its 2019 Best Graduate Schools ranking on Tuesday. The report included favorable listings for Brown University, Rhode Island College, University of Rhode Island and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. / COURTESY U.S. NEWS
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT released its 2019 Best Graduate Schools ranking on Tuesday. The report included favorable listings for Brown University, Rhode Island College, University of Rhode Island and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. / COURTESY U.S. NEWS

PROVIDENCE – Graduate programs at five local higher education institutions were recognized among the top in the nation per the 2019 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate School rankings, released Tuesday.

Those schools were Brown University, Rhode Island College, University of Rhode Island, Providence College and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Graduate programs ranked by U.S. News in their annual report always include business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing. However, as was done this year, U.S. News often expands its report to include rankings of social work, public affairs, criminology and sciences graduate programs.

Brown was ranked No. 47 overall for its engineering program, tying with the University of Delaware and University of Pittsburgh.

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Several of Brown’s engineering specialties were also highlighted in the Tuesday report:

  • Biomedical/bioengineering program: No. 45
  • Chemical engineering: No. 61
  • Computer engineering: No. 36
  • Electrical/electronic/communications engineering: No. 46
  • Materials engineering: No. 42,
  • Mechanical engineering: No. 22

The university’s Warren Alpert Medical School’s primary care program tied for No. 39 – a fall from No. 21 in the 2018 ranking – while its medical research program ranked No. 32 – a fall from No. 31 last year.

In the first year the field was ranked by U.S. News, Brown’s obstetrics and gynecology program tied for No. 11 in the country.

The 2019 report ranked Brown’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs as tied for 64th place.

Several Brown science specialties were also ranked in the Tuesday report:

  • Biology: No. 33
  • Chemistry: No. 59
  • Computer Science: No. 25
  • Earth Sciences: No. 15
  • Geophysics and Seismology: No. 10
  • Mathematics: No. 14
  • Applied Math: No. 4
  • Physics: No. 35
  • Statistics: No. 44

URI’s nursing master’s degree program fell from No. 79 in the 2018 report to No. 110. The state’s flagship research institute’s doctor of nursing program ranked No. 109 in the most recent report. It was not ranked in the 2018 report.

While the rank of its College of Engineering was not listed, six URI engineering specialties were:

  • Chemical engineering: No. 100
  • Civil engineering: No. 107
  • Computer engineering: No. 91
  • Electrical/electronic/communications engineering: No. 96
  • Industrial/manufacturing/systems: No. 76
  • Mechanical engineering: No. 98

In addition, five URI science specialties were ranked:

  • Biology: No. 140
  • Chemistry: No. 122
  • Earth sciences: No. 54
  • Mathematics: No. 127
  • Physics: No. 146

URI’s nursing master’s degree ranked No. 110, falling from No. 79 in the 2018 findings.

The sole ranking received by Rhode Island College was for its graduate social work program at No. 105.

While mentioned in the report, the rankings for full-time and part-time graduate programs at UMass Dartmouth’s Charlton College of Business were not reported, neither was that for Bryant University’s College of Business.

Providence College’s part-time MBA program tied for No. 118 by the Tuesday report.

Moving from No. 3 to a tied position for No. 1, the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and Harvard Business School took the top ranking in the 2019 MBA listing – the inaugural time the Chicago school has ranked first.

Highlighting a “notable shift[s],” the U.S. News overview mentioned University of Michigan Ann Arbor’s Ross School of Business jumped from No. 11 to a tied seventh-place finish and Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business improved from No. 29 to No. 23 in the 2019 Tuesday report.

U.S. News ranking of graduate programs is based on expert opinions of “program excellence” as well as statistical indicators measuring the quality of school’s faculty, research and students. Data for business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing rankings were based on statistical surveys of more than 2,012 programs and reputation surveys sent to more 20,500 academics and professionals conducted between fall 2017 and the early months of 2018.

Previous PBN coverage of the Best Graduate Schools rankings in 2017 can be found here.

Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.

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