August 2006

U.S. News & World Report’s 2007 Annual Guide to America’s Best Colleges recently named  New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) among the nation’s top tier of national research universities offering a range of undergraduate majors and master's and doctoral degrees.

The magazine uses expert opinion and statistical data that it says are reliable indicators of academic quality. Among the criteria used to score schools are the graduation rates and the rates at which students are retained from the first to the second year. Class size, faculty resources, the student/faculty ratio, and selectivity in admissions are also key elements of the ranking.

Robert A. Altenkirch, president of NJIT, said he was pleased with NJIT’s ranking as one of the nation’s top tier schools. "The U.S. News & World Report ranking of universities is widely read and conveys some useful information to prospective students and the public. We are pleased to see NJIT placed among the top group of national universities.”

Priscilla Nelson, NJIT Provost, noted that she applauds the efforts of NJIT’s faculty and staff for continuing efforts to focus on students. “At NJIT, attention to students always remains paramount,” Nelson said. “For example, we’re happy to see this survey acknowledge our innovative instruction and small classes.”  The majority of undergraduate class sections enroll fewer than 20 students, helping our students to master the rigorous curriculum of the sciences, engineering, technology and management.

Joel Bloom, vice president of student services and dean of the Albert Dorman Honors College noted that NJIT has also been repeatedly recognized for being in the top percentage nationwide for awarding baccalaureate degrees to minority African-American engineers.  U.S. News also named NJIT today the nation’s 11th most diverse institution of higher education.

“As a public university, NJIT works hard to achieve the dual status of being nationally ranked and committed to diversity,” Bloom explained. NJIT’s quality Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) allows the university to remain a top opportunity school, he added, as a result of the counseling, tutoring and scholarship services available to the EOP students.

Albert Dorman Honors College, with its enrollment of 600 students and  average SAT score of 1300, enables NJIT to compete for top students. And such high-caliber students help raise NJIT’s status in rankings such as the one produced by U.S. News.