Vermont Technical College this week was named among the top 10 best public baccalaureate colleges in the North by U.S.News & World Report. In its 2010 “Best Colleges” issue, Vermont Tech placed seventh among the best public baccalaureate colleges in the North and 22nd among all northern colleges, up two notches from its number 24 ranking in 2009, and eight notches from its number 30 ranking in 2008.
U.S.News & World Report’s annual college rankings are widely anticipated, circulated and respected throughout the United States. There are 319 baccalaureate colleges ranked within four regions of the United States: North, South, Midwest, and West. Vermont Tech is one of just two Vermont colleges to make this year’s “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” list.
“As you have to imagine, we’re extremely pleased not only to have earned this kind of recognition,” said college president Ty Handy, “but also to have earned it three years running with improvement in each of the three years. It reflects a lot of hard work by a lot of people, and it’s a testimony to the kind of dedication and commitment our faculty and staff make – each and every day – to the college and its mission.”
According to its web site, the U.S. News ranking system rests on two pillars: quantitative measures that education experts have proposed as reliable indicators of academic quality, and its own nonpartisan view of what matters in education.
The quantitative measures for baccalaureate colleges fall into six broad categories: peer assessment; graduation and retention rates; faculty resources (for example, class size); student selectivity (for example, average admission test scores of incoming students); financial resources; and alumni giving.
Baccalaureate colleges are defined by U.S. News as “institutions [that] focus primarily on undergraduate education…but grant fewer than 50 percent of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines. At these schools, at least 10 percent of undergraduate degrees awarded are bachelor's degrees.”
Source: Vermont Tech. RANDOLPH CENTER, Vt—