U.S. News Ranking Puts ODU in Top Tier of National Universities

Old Dominion University was recognized this week among the nation's top higher education institutions by U.S. News and World Report in its annual "Best Colleges" rankings.

The venerable magazine released its 2017 rankings Sept. 13, with Old Dominion securing the #210 position in the "National Universities" category. That puts the University within the top 11 percent of 1,800 colleges and universities nationwide that were analyzed.

The new ranking edition marks the first time Old Dominion has been listed as a top tier institution.

"It is great to see that Old Dominion University is recognized nationally as a dynamic public research institution that is committed to academic excellence, research, student success and accessible and affordable education," said Provost Augustine "Austin" Agho. "This ranking is an outcome of the efforts of our University to attract high caliber students and support the ground-breaking advances our faculty are making in their respective fields."

U.S. News placed ODU in the category among institutions such as Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania that "offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master's and doctoral programs" and are "committed to producing groundbreaking research."

Data pertaining to the 1,800 universities and colleges was collected and analyzed to determine the rankings using weighted measures that included: graduation and retention rates, undergraduate academic reputation, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance and alumni giving rate.

Old Dominion University is Virginia's entrepreneurial-minded doctoral research university with 25,000 students, rigorous academics, an energetic residential community, and initiatives that contribute $2.1 billion annually to Virginia's economy. Old Dominion is a hub of innovative teaching and research. Under President John R. Broderick's leadership, the University has emerged as an international leader in sea level rise and flooding resiliency, bioelectrics, and modeling and simulation-tying into Coastal Virginia's regional strengths and promoting job creation and retention.

This article originally appeared in News @ ODU.