ECE Graduate Program Rankings on the Rise

The Ohio State University College of Engineering’s graduate program jumped three spots to number 27 in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings published on April 25. The program is ranked first in Ohio and improved to 14th among public universities.

Several departments within the college also placed among the top programs in the nation. The Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering increased its ranking to 8th among its U.S. university peers. Nine other engineering specialties also placed in the top 30: materials (15); nuclear (16); industrial/manufacturing (17); aerospace/aeronautical (18); electrical (23); mechanical (25); computer (26); chemical (29); and civil (29).

For the U.S. News rankings of graduate programs, 220 engineering schools that grant doctoral degrees were surveyed. As of autumn semester 2022, 1,889 engineering graduate students were pursuing one of 13 advanced degrees at Ohio State.

“We take great pride in recruiting the best talent to our graduate programs and preparing them to meet the needs of a rapidly, changing world and workforce demands,” said Associate Dean of Graduate Programs La’Tonia Stiner-Jones.

While overall engineering graduate school rankings are derived from a combination of nine quantitative and qualitative indicators, the publication’s engineering specialty rankings are based solely on peer assessments by department heads in each area. Assessment surveys and statistical data were collected in fall 2022 and early 2023.

For the past two years, computer science program rankings have been included in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Science Schools rankings, also released this week. In this year’s list, Ohio State jumped 10 spots to number 24.

“Our steady improvement in the rankings is attributable to extraordinary faculty and graduate students, and on-going commitments from industry and the State of Ohio,” said College of Engineering Dean Ayanna Howard. “While individually, faculty are not focused on rankings, their innovation in the lab, classroom and community bolster our program’s performance and reputation among our peers.”

In last September’s U.S. News & World Report 2023 Best Colleges issue, Ohio State’s undergraduate engineering program again ranked first in Ohio and rose to 15th among public universities nationwide.