UH Manoa impressive in national and international college rankings

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Dan Meisenzahl, (808) 348-4936
Director of Media Production , External Affairs and University Relations
Posted: Sep 14, 2015

UH Manoa students walk to class via McCarthy Mall.
UH Manoa students walk to class via McCarthy Mall.

Link to HD quality video and interviews http://bit.ly/1KmF6TN (more info below)

The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s reputation as a nationally recognized and world-class university has been affirmed, after three major university rankings were recently released by the College Scorecard, U.S. News and World Report, and the Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Said Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman, “These rankings demonstrate that we are truly among the great universities of the world. We’re also pleased to see that, in terms of a student’s cost to attend, we’re actually ranked below the average nationally. So this dynamic combination of high-ranked programs and reasonable cost really shows that we are on the right track. Our University and state have a lot to be proud of.”

College Scorecard.  UH Mānoa ranked above the national average in several categories under the College Scorecard, which was released this weekend by the White House.  According to the U.S. Department of Education, UH Mānoa surpassed the national average in areas including students repaying their loans (88 percent, compared to the national average of 67 percent), and salaries after attending ($44,300 annually, compared to the national average of $34,343, based on IRS information).  

The University also rated highly in terms cost to attend, and for student retention and graduation rates relative to national norms. Specifically, the average annual cost to attend UH Manoa was cited as $11,102 annually, lower than the national average of $16,789 annually.  In addition, 78 percent of UH Mānoa students return after their first year, compared to 67 percent nationally, and 56 percent of students go on to graduate, compared to the national average of 44 percent.

U.S. News and World Report.  Last week, U.S. News and World Report noted that UH Mānoa had improved three spots, moving up from 164 last year to 161 in the publication’s 2016 ranking. U.S. News surveyed 1,800 colleges among over 3,000 four-year institutions across the country.

International rankings.  UH Mānoa received global recognition for its research excellence in recently released international rankings. The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), which is based in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, ranked UH Mānoa in the range of 66 to 78 in the U.S., and 151 to 200 globally. With 1,200 of the best research universities in the world under consideration for this ranking, UH Mānoa places in the top 1% worldwide out of over 20,000 universities worldwide. 

Other popular international rankings, such as the U.K.-based QS and Times Higher Education’s world university rankings, placed UH Mānoa between 250 and 320 among all universities in the world, and in the range of 60 and 90 among universities in the U.S.  As the most well-known university ranking agency in the nation, the U.S. News and World Report released its first global ranking in October 2014, when it ranked UH Mānoa 107 in the U.S., and 321 in the world.

The UH Mānoa Institutional Research Office (MIRO) provides information and research-based analysis of academic rankings, among other data that are helpful to institutional reporting. Because each academic ranking organization uses different methodologies, no single ranking can accurately and thoroughly describe Mānoa or its programs. MIRO gathers ranking information from both national and international ranking organizations.

UH MIRO and many other universities have a growing interest in global academic rankings because they see it as an answer to enhancing an institution’s profile internationally in the competition for talented students and faculty throughout the world.

For more information, see the link at https://manoa.hawaii.edu/miro/rankings/

Video B-roll (1 minute, 26 seconds):

00:00 – 00:18 (3 shots) UH Manoa scenics
00:18 – 00:55 (6 shots) Inside the classrooms
00:55 – 01:00 (1 shot) UH Manoa graduation
01:00 – 01:13 (2 shots) UH Bookstore crowd
01:13 – 01:19 (1 shot) Plant research
01:19 – 01:26 (1 shot) Engineering bridge competition

Soundbite:

Robert Bley-Vroman - Chancellor, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (10 seconds)

"I think that this shows that we're really one of the world's great universities.  We have a ways to go but I think we're really on the right track. We're constantly improving and we're definitely moving in the right direction."

For more information, visit: http://manoa.hawaii.edu