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UH-Hilo ranked
third best liberal arts
college in the West

UH-Manoa rated in third
tier of universities

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By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

The University of Hawaii-Manoa remained in the third tier or group of 228 national universities in rankings published today by U.S. News and World Report. There are four tiers.

Four years ago, UH-Manoa was listed in the top 25 national public universities. Faced with traumatic budget cuts, accreditation and morale problems, it began falling -- into the second tier, then the third tier last year and again in the 2001 list released today.

Among public liberal arts colleges in the western United States, UH-Hilo placed third for the third year. It followed Evergreen State in Washington and Texas A&M-Galveston.

Hawaii Pacific University was in the third tier and Chaminade University in the fourth tier among western regional universities.

Princeton University was the highest ranked national institution, followed by Harvard and Yale. Last year, Princeton tied with Yale at No. 4. The California Institute of Technology, last year's top school, is now No. 4 ,and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, No. 5.

U.S. News ranks only the top 25 percent of schools in different categories and puts the others in tiers or broad groups based on their overall score.

In the magazine Washington Monthly last week, the National Opinion Research Center joined some college leaders in criticizing the rankings as lacking "any defensible empirical or theoretical basis."

Academic reputation carries the heaviest weight in the magazine's rankings. UH-Manoa's reputation is 2.7, the same as last year, out of a possible 5.

During the period covered by the college measurements, UH-Manoa suffered severe budget cuts and received less than 10 years' accreditation, Dean Smith, UH senior vice president, pointed out.

"These two negative aspects have hurt our national reputation. They seem to have outweighed our successes, marvelous successes, like cloning of mice," he said.

However, "Our budget has stabilized and we're making good progress toward addressing accrediting concerns. We're turning this around. ... We won't be satisfied until we're back in the top 25." Smith said the UH has restructured its economic base and is beginning to see positive results and improved morale. "People are starting to smile about things." His priority is to pull the campus together to prepare for the accreditation team's visit in 2002. "It's doable," he said.

UH-Hilo also has a goal -- to have student enrollment of 5,000 in 10 years, said Gerald De Mello, director of university relations. About 2,000 to 2,900 students are expected in the final count this semester. De Mello said UH-Hilo is being more selective in admissions, offering more programs and holding the faculty-student ratio to about 13 to 1.

Faculty, staff and administration have "worked really hard to make UH-Hilo an outstanding university in terms of national ranking," he said.

Besides providing quality education, "we're also very sensitive to growth and the kind of spinoff a nice college town can have for a community," De Mello said.

Data reported for UH-Manoa show:

Percent of classes with fewer than 20 students -- 55 percent, an increase from 52 percent last year.
Percent of classes with more than 50 students -- 9 percent, same as last year.
Student-faculty ratio -- 11 to 1, same as last year.
Percentage of freshmen who returned for a second year -- 81 percent, up from 80 percent last year.
SAT scores of first-time students in the 25th and 75th percentile -- 990/1190, down slightly from 990/1210 last year.
Incoming students in the top 10 percent of their high school classes -- 31 percent, down from 32 percent last year.
Acceptance rate -- 70 percent, compared with 67 percent last year. Alumni gift-giving -- 14 percent, the same as last year.
Data for UH-Hilo show:
Its reputation climbed from 3.2 to 3.3. (Brigham Young University-Hawaii, which placed 11th out of western liberal arts colleges, had a 3.5 reputation score.)
It admitted only 60 percent of applicants instead of last year's 68 percent. Forty-three percent graduated in the top 25 percent of their high school classes.
More than half of the classes (52 percent) taught at Hilo have fewer than 20 students and only 4 percent have more than 50 students.

Details of the rankings may be seen on the magazine's Web page: www.usnews.com.

The top 10 Leading this year's ranking by U.S. News & World Report are: 1. Princeton University 2. (tie) Harvard Yale 4. California Institute of Technology 5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 6. (tie) Stanford University University of Pennsylvania 8. Duke University 9. Dartmouth College 10. (tie) Columbia University University of Chicago Cornell University

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University of Hawaii