When it comes to online higher education programs, Arizona universities stand out in the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report — and Arizona State University tied for top honors in the nation for its online undergraduate business program.
In the rankings released Tuesday, the magazine found that the Grand Canyon State has two of the best online MBA programs in the nation, as well as two of the best overall best online bachelor’s degree programs. In both of those categories, Arizona State University ranked No. 7 and the University of Arizona ranked No. 10.
The overall MBA programs were further ranked by specific disciplines. In analytics, ASU ranked No. 5 and UArizona No. 13; in finance, ASU was No. 6; in management, ASU was No. 3 and UArizona was No. 15; and in marketing, ASU was No. 4 and UArizona was No. 7.
ASU — which shared its No. 1 ranking in online undergraduate business with the University of Florida — was also at No. 9 for its master’s in business program, a category where Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff also found a place on that list, coming in at No. 75.
And again in undergraduate programs, ASU was No. 4 for psychology, with UArizona not far behind at No. 12. And the two schools were ranked third and fourth, respectively, for online undergraduate programs for veterans — a ranking that considered schools that meet certain requirements indicating favorability to former military members.
These U.S. News rankings evaluated more than 1,800 programs and ranked more than 1,700, with the report’s authors saying that more institutions than ever submitted data. Evaluations followed different methodologies for each discipline, but U.S. News said all assessments considered metrics that are specific to online learning — such as measures of services offered remotely, available technologies and course delivery practices.
“Most of the undergraduate programs in the Best Online Programs rankings are degree completion programs, meaning the vast majority of their students already have some college credit,” said Eric Brooks, principal data analyst at U.S. News, in a statement. “The methodology is developed with those students in mind, setting these rankings apart from those that are focused on recent high school graduates pursuing higher education for the first time.”
In other graduate-level programs that were evaluated, ASU ranked No. 7 for its overall master’s in education program — including No. 1 for administration, No. 1 for design, No. 2 for curriculum and No. 11 for special education. And ASU came in at No. 15 for its overall master’s in engineering — including No. 2 for electrical engineering, No. 3 for engineering management and No. 6 for industrial engineering.
ASU also ranked No. 6 for its online criminal justice program.
UArizona came in at No. 6 for its online master’s in information technology program, No. 34 for master’s in engineering and No. 37 for master’s in education.
NAU ranked No. 68 for master’s in nursing and No. 97 for master’s in education.
The rankings measured overall academic quality of the programs, and the magazine emphasized that these rankings were for particular programs and not schools. Only predominantly online degree programs were included, which means blended learning programs, and programs that are normally in-person but switched to remote learning because of the Covid-19 pandemic were not included.
ASU said that it has been growing its online program rapidly and now offers more than 300 online programs.
“ASU Online has seen tremendous growth and stands out from the competition — enrolling more students and offering more online undergraduate bachelor’s programs than any other university ranked in the top 200 without compromising educational quality,” said Phil Regier, university dean for educational initiatives and CEO of EdPlus at ASU, in a statement. “As a large research institution, we are able to offer students access to more resources and more research opportunities, and our programs continuously evolve to provide cutting-edge student experiences. I am proud that our programs have been recognized as some of the best in the country.”
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