Three Nebraska higher education institutions are topping the list in the brave new world of online education, according to new rankings released this week by U.S. News & World Report. In fact, in their respective categories, Bellevue University, the University of Nebraska at Kearney and Clarkson College in Omaha scored better than such national names as Phoenix University, the for-profit known for its online programs, and Yale University, which offers an online nursing program.
After 28 years of evaluating and ranking residential colleges and universities, U.S. News for the first time is dipping its toes into ranking online education programs. The effort is clearly in its infancy. The report does not offer an overall ranking of the best online schools — rather, it scored categories of programs on three or four quality factors. The effort generated a total of 23 lists, such as how graduate engineering programs ranked in the area of student services and technology or how bachelor's degree programs rated on student engagement and assessment.
It included "honor rolls" that list which programs fared the best across all categories. Clarkson College of Omaha made the honor roll for its graduate nursing program, getting high marks for its student services and technology (No. 5 among graduate nursing programs), its faculty credentials (No. 9), its student engagement and assessment (No. 17) and its admissions selectivity (No. 23). Clarkson also received a favorable ranking for its online graduate business degree program. UNK made the honor roll for its program providing advanced degrees to teachers and school administrators. It ranked fourth for faculty credentials, 17th for student engagement and assessment, 21st for admissions selectivity and 38th for student services and technology.
Bellevue University ranked tops in student engagement and assessment for its undergraduate degree programs. The factor essentially evaluates steps taken to make sure online students are able to interact with their professor and to learn the objective set out in the course. It also measured safeguards against plagiarism and cheating on tests. Bellevue ranked 43rd for student services and technology in its bachelor's degree program. The school also received favorable rankings for its online graduate business degree program.
Some other Midlands institutions that fared well on the ratings included:
» University of Nebraska-Lincoln for its online graduate business degree.
» University of Iowa for its graduate education program and its bachelor's degree program.
» Iowa State University for its graduate engineering and graduate information technology programs.
» Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, for its online bachelor's degree program and its online graduate education program.
» AIB College of Business in Des Moines for its online bachelor's degree programs.
» Nebraska Methodist College in Omaha for its graduate nursing program. The new rankings have met with mixed reviews, however, because U.S. News received comparatively low responses and developed its ratings factors based upon data submitted by the participating institutions. It was unable to develop an across-the-board ranking system, leading one critic to tell the Chronicle of Higher Education that the evaluation was like getting batting averages and bases stolen without knowing the final score of the baseball game.
Mary Hawkins, president of Bellevue University, said the first-place ranking shows Bellevue has been on the right track since implementing its online degree program in 1996. Since then, the school's enrollment has gone from 2,800 students to more than 10,400.
Bellevue caters to military students, among others. The online program has allowed students located around the world to pursue a degree at Bellevue — once, the institution had students located at the North Pole and at the South Pole enrolled at the same time, she said. Hawkins said she was especially pleased that Bellevue's undergraduate program ranked first in student engagement and assessment. "This is the heart of what we do as a university," she said. "Ranking first in that category is a real plum. We are a teaching institution; that's what we care about."