UH Hilo ranked in "America's Best Colleges 2006"

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo
Contact:
Alyson Kakugawa-Leong, (808) 974-7642
University of Hawaii at Hilo
Posted: Aug 25, 2005

US News & World Report magazine recently released its national college rankings to coincide with the beginning of the new academic year at most institutions across the country. In overall rankings, the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is ranked this year in the fourth tier -- schools ranked 165 through 215 -- of 215 liberal arts college nationwide, of which 193 are private and only 22 are public.
The liberal arts college designation is based on categories developed by the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching and includes institutions such as UH Hilo that emphasize undergraduate education and award at least half their degrees in the liberal arts.

In addition to its "Best Liberal Arts College" ranking, UH Hilo ranked in a tie for fifth among liberal arts colleges in racial diversity -- the colleges where students are most likely to encounter undergraduates from racial or ethnic groups different from their own, not including international students. Among the U.S. citizens in the undergraduate student body, UH Hilo has more Asian-Americans than any other liberal arts college in the U.S. at 42 percent.



UH Hilo was also tied for 13th among liberal arts colleges for the largest proportion of international undergraduates in its student body during the 2004-2005 school year, at 11 percent.


"In today‘s global economy and global marketplace, employers place a high premium on prospective employees who are ʻcitizens of the world,‘" UH Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng said. "UH Hilo offers undergraduates the opportunity to interact on a meaningful intellectual and social level with fellow students from a multitude of racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds and to immerse themselves in the multicultural milieu that leads to the ʻworld citizenship‘ that is so vital for the future."

In other categories listed by US News & World Report‘s rankings, 84 percent of UH Hilo‘s faculty is full-time and only four percent of its classes have 50 or more students. Forty percent of its classes have fewer than 20 students.

"UH Hilo has always prided itself on hands-on learning and on the amount of individual attention that students receive from faculty," Tseng noted. "These are numbers that vindicate the individualized experience that students receive at UH Hilo."

UH News & World Report compiles the annual rankings based on reputational surveys of senior academicians at peer institutions, faculty and financial resources, student selectivity in the admissions process, the percentage of freshmen who return for a second year, and ultimately graduate, and alumni giving to the institution.

For more information, visit: http://www.usnews.com