Hough online curriculum recognized in latest U.S. News rankings
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Hough Graduate School of Business’ online curriculum ranked in the top 10 in two specialty categories in U.S. News & World Report’s “Top Online Education Programs 2012 Rankings” released Tuesday.
Hough ranked fourth in Admissions Selectivity and 10th in Student Engagement and Accreditation. Among U.S. public universities, Hough was third and fifth in Admissions Selectivity and Student Engagement and Accreditation, respectively.
The “Top Online Education Programs 2012 Rankings” was the first time U.S. News, which annually releases rankings for colleges and graduate programs, ranked top online education degree programs. In ranking graduate business programs, U.S. News surveyed 960 regionally-accredited institutions that had granted master’s degrees in business in 2010.
According to U.S. News, Admissions Selectivity was based on admission data from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011 as well as the programs’ 2011-2012 standards for admissions applications. To be included in the rankings, schools needed to have offered admissions to at least 10 online students in the 2010-11 academic year. Programs were judged on mean undergraduate GPA, mean GMAT scores, acceptance rate, standardized test required in application and essay required in application.
In Student Engagement and Accreditation, the most highly-weighted indicator was program accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The Hough Graduate School of Business’ programs have been accredited by AACSB, the premier accrediting organization for management education, since 1929. In addition to AACSB accreditation, programs were evaluated on collaborative student work, maximum class size, average class size, student participation, faculty availability, American Disabilities Act compliance and anti-plagiarism screening.
The Hough Graduate School of Business has been at the forefront of online graduate education, and was one of the first schools to have an accredited online MBA program. Hough’s Internet MBA program was one of only two programs in the world to earn the top rating of “excellent” by The Economist in its “Which MBA?” Distance-Learning Special 2010 publication.
