Rankings Roundup: Fiske, U.S. News and now "IQ Campuses"

Among the perennial college guide rankings, there's a new gem this year for KU.

Forbes magazine recently named the university one of the top 10 "IQ Campuses" in the nation.

The ranking was compiled by Rich Karlgaard, Forbes publisher and columnist, in his new book, "Life 2.0: How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness."

Universities that were selected made the list because of their strong engineering and science departments, according to Karlgaard. In addition, the universities' hometowns have affordable housing. Lawrence is listed with a metro population of 100,000 and housing value of $218,000 for a "median professional-class home."

KU joins such other top "IQ Campuses" as the University of Iowa, Iowa City; the State University of New York, Albany; the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and the University of Colorado, Boulder.

In another list, Forbes ranked Lawrence No. 6 of 168 "Best Small Places" to live, citing the city's educated workforce, future growth and low cost of doing business.

Karlgaard writes that the "real juice" in Lawrence is the KU Center for Research, which specializes in life-sciences technology. The respected research facility has attracted substantial federal research dollars since the mid-1990s. KU increased its research expenditures from funding sources outside the university to $165 million in fiscal year 2003 from $148 million in FY 2002. Such funding was only $69 million in FY 1993.

Fiske Guide

Fiske Guide: The 2005 guide once again places KU on the coveted "Best Buys of 2005" list and gives the university 4 out of 5 stars in the categories of academics, social life, and quality of life. It states the University's strongest programs are architecture, biological sciences, business and economics, engineering, environmental studies, journalism, nursing and pharmacy, social welfare, premed studies and Spanish and Portuguese.

In its narrative, the guide calls KU an "oasis of tolerance and openmindedness" and says the campus is "one of the most gorgeous in the United States."

Also, the guide states KU "has taken steps to become more selective and theresults are evident: the academic achievements of each incoming class continue to rise. And those students who are extremely dedicatated can plunge into a great honors program."

U.S. News

U.S. News: This fall's annual "America's Best Colleges" rankings continued to place KU and its professional schools of business and engineering among the top 50 in the nation. KU placed 42nd among public national universities that offer a wide range of undergraduate majors as well as master's and doctoral degrees. The schools of business and engineering were ranked 30th and 45th respectively among their respective undergraduate programs at public universities. U.S. News did not rank any other professional schools in this survey.

In the assessment of academic quality by chancellors, presidents and chief academic officers at national universities, KU rated 3.4 on a scale of 5.0, or tied for 29th among all public national universities.

In April, U.S. News ranked 25 KU graduate programs in the top 25 among the nation's public universities in its 2005 edition of "America's Best Graduate Schools."