UC online programs earn recognition in national rankings

UC's criminal justice, education and engineering master's degree programs were among those that achieved accolades in the annual rankings.

“Several years ago when UC decided to support its own online programs and move away from consultants and vendors, our leadership intentionally created a strategy for high quality, one-on-one online learning experiences as well as enrollment growth,” said Jason Lemon, dean of UC Online.

“It’s gratifying to see that those strategies are producing results that have been validated through independent sources."

“Rankings were not the goal of UC Online efforts, but they do highlight some of the positive outcomes and successes that happen across all of UC’s online programs,” Lemon said.

“With UC Online, the university has experienced a significant boost to both online student success and enrollment growth.”

The master's degree in criminal justice program remained No. 9 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. Also in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services, the master's degree in education program moved up four spots to No. 30 in the national rankings.

“These all tremendous programs and the faculty work hard to make sure our students have a great experience when taking an online course,” said Larry Johnson, dean of the college.

UC's master's degree in engineering improved its national ranking this year, rising eight spots to No. 29.

“The College of Engineering and Applied Science has designed the online Master of Engineering programs to be forward-looking, providing engineers the knowledge they need for emerging fields such as [optimizing human labor for advanced machines] and intelligent autonomous systems,” said Eugene Rutz, assistant dean in UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science and manager of the master’s of engineering programs for the college.

“The programs allow practicing engineers to acquire new skills to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by rapidly changing technology. We purposefully include instructors who are also practitioners in these fields so theory is presented in the context of real-world implementation.”

Photos by Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand