U.S. News & World Report highlights KU graduate programs in 2019 rankings

Joe Monaco, KU Office of Public Affairs

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has nine graduate programs ranked in the top 10 and 46 graduate programs ranked in the top 50 among public universities in the 2019 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools” rankings, which were released yesterday.

The university’s 46 top 50 programs eclipses last year’s total of 42 such programs.

“Rankings are one way to determine how we are performing relative to our peer institutions, and these U.S. News rankings highlight successes across our university,” said Chancellor Douglas A. Girod. “We celebrate these successes and remain focused on our broader mission and goals.”

The university’s special education program — ranked No. 1 among publics last year — retained that ranking and also grabbed the No. 1 spot overall this year. KU’s city management and urban policy program (labeled “Local Government Management” by U.S. News) continues to be ranked No. 1 among all universities. KU’s city management program has maintained its top ranking since 1998.

Programs that saw the largest improvement from last year’s rankings are nursing, nursing practice, civil engineering and mechanical engineering:

  • Nursing improved to 32 (tied) among publics, up from 45 (tied) last year.
  • Nursing Practice improved to 31 (tied) among publics, up from 40 (tied) last year.
  • Civil Engineering improved to 36 (tied) among publics, up from 41 (tied) last year.
  • Mechanical Engineering improved to 47 (tied) among publics, up from 59 (tied) last year.

This year, KU has five newly ranked programs:

  • Business MBA is tied for 39 among publics.
  • Biomedical/Bioengineering is tied for 48 among publics.
  • Public policy analysis – a new category in the Public Affairs area – is tied for 21 among publics.
  • Urban policy – a new category in the Public Affairs area – is tied for fifth among publics.
  • Statistics – which is KU Medical Center’s biostatistics program – is tied for 59 among publics.

Graduate programs at KU ranked in the top 50 among public universities include:

1. Local Government Management (Master's)
1. Special Education (Master's/Doctorate)
4. Occupational Therapy (Master's/Doctorate)
5. Urban Policy (Master's)
5. Speech-Language-Pathology (Master's)
5. Public Management and Leadership (Master's)
8. Petroleum Engineering (Master's/Doctorate)
9. School of Education (Master's/Doctorate)
9. Physical Therapy (Master's/Doctorate)
12. Curriculum and Instruction (Doctorate)
12. Clinical Child Psychology (Doctorate)
12. Public Affairs (Master's)
14. Nursing-Midwifery (Master)
14. Nursing-Anesthesia (DNP)
16. Secondary Teacher Education (Doctorate)
20. Pharmacy (PharmD)
20. Audiology (Doctorate)
20. Public Finance & Budgeting (Master's)
20. History (Doctorate)
21. Clinical Psychology (Doctorate)
21. Social Work (Master's)
21. Public Policy Analysis (Master's)
25. Healthcare Management (Master's)
27. Medicine - Primary Care
30. Psychology (Doctorate)
31. Nursing Practice (DNP)
32. Nursing (Master's)
33. Aerospace Engineering (Master's/Doctorate)
36. Civil Engineering (Master's/Doctorate)
36. Medicine – Research
37. Fine Arts (Master's)
38. Earth Sciences (Geology- Doctorate)
38. Political Science (Doctorate)
39. Mathematics (Doctorate)
39. Business MBA
39. Law (JD)
40. English (Doctorate)
40. Biology (Doctorate)
44. Economics (Doctorate)
44. Chemistry (Doctorate)
45. Environ./Environ. Health Engineering (Master's/Doctorate)
46. Electrical Engineering (Master's/Doctorate)
46. Part-time MBA
47. Chemical Engineering (Doctorate)
47. Mechanical Engineering (Master's/Doctorate)
48. Biomedical/Bioengineering (Master's/Doctorate)

Additionally, the university has three Top 50 online programs:

12. Nursing (Master's)
27. Graduate Education
48. MBA