UH 4-year campuses get high ranking for value, diversity, and academic success

US News and World Report 2023 Best Colleges rankings released on Sept. 11, gives three University of Hawai’i campuses high marks.

UH Mānoa, UH Hilo and UH West Oʻahu were included in the report, which selected the top 1,500 four-year institutions out of the approximately 2,640 four-year nationwide and graded them on 17 measures of academic quality, including graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, expert opinions, financial resources and student excellence.

“These latest rankings confirm what we’ve heard from many, many others. The University of Hawaiʻi is a fabulous institution and across our campuses, we have a place for everyone,” UH President David Lassner said.

UH Mānoa

UH Mānoa, the flagship campus of the UH System, ranked No. 83 as a top US public university; No. 166 overall in the US; No. 200 as a best value school, which factors in academic quality and cost; and No. 67 for institutions whose students graduated carrying the least debt. UH Mānoa also tied for No. 6 in the nation in ethnic diversity and ranked No. 178 in social mobility, which measures how well schools graduated students who were federal Pell Grant recipients.

The Shidler College of Business came in No. 13 for international business programs and No. 128 among the best undergraduate business programs, out of 516 undergraduate business programs ranked. The Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing is the nation’s No. 93 best undergraduate nursing program, among 681 ranked undergraduate nursing programs. The College of Engineering placed No. 137 among the best undergraduate engineering programs in the US, and the Information and Computer Sciences Department ranked as the No. 121 best undergraduate computer science program, out of 537 ranked programs.

UH Hilo

UH Hilo retained its No. 1 ranking as one of the nation’s most ethnically diverse campuses, tying for the top spot with Andrews University in Michigan. Students at UH Hilo in fall 2021 reported being 15.4% Asian, 8.3% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 19.4% white, and 35.8% of two or more races.

UH Hilo also ranked No. 56 for social mobility, No. 146 as a top U.S. public university, No. 285 overall in the nation and No. 86 for institutions whose students graduated carrying the least debt. In addition, UH Hilo’s School of Nursing is the No. 206 best undergraduate nursing program in the US, and the College of Business and Economics placed No. 283 among the best undergraduate business programs.

UH West Oʻahu

UH West Oʻahu ranked No. 11 among best US public colleges in the West, and No. 9 with the least student debt and tied for No. 3 with the highest ethnic diversity, among regional colleges in the West. UH West Oʻahu was also the No. 24-ranked regional college in the West, and No. 19 for social mobility among regional colleges in the West.

Ranking categories

UH Mānoa and UH Hilo were included in the national universities category, which featured institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master’s and doctoral programs, and emphasize faculty research or award professional practice doctorates. UH West Oʻahu is in the regional colleges in the West category, which includes schools that focus on undergraduate education and grant fewer than 50% of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines.

The findings of the report are posted online.