Lehigh again named as one of nation’s top universities

Lehigh ranks 32nd in U.S News & World Report’s “2006 America’s Best Colleges” survey, moving up five places from last year.
Lehigh advanced more places than any other institution among the Top 50 and is the only national university to move up as dramatically in the past four years. Lehigh is also the only top-ranked university or liberal arts college in Pennsylvania and in the Patriot League to improve its ranking to this extent.
“A university ultimately rises or falls on its academic reputation,” says Gregory Farrington, Lehigh president. “This is why we have put such great emphasis on retaining and recruiting the best faculty, focusing our development efforts on creating endowed faculty chairs and creating highly competitive new programs, including design arts, information systems and engineering, environmental studies, bioengineering, computer science and business, integrated business and engineering, entrepreneurship, global citizenship and environmental engineering.”
According to the survey, released today, Lehigh remains among the best and most selective universities in the nation, with high marks for first-year students who were in the top 10 percent of their high school class and student selectivity. In addition, Lehigh was ranked 26th in the nation for “best value.”
Lehigh scored its highest mark since the Top 50 rankings have been conducted in three important areas:
• Faculty resources (21st)
• Student selectivity (36th)
• Financial resources (48th)
Among the best undergraduate engineering programs whose highest degree is a Ph.D., Lehigh ranks 41st, advancing six places from last year. And Lehigh's undergraduate mechanical engineering program ranks 21st among programs whose highest degree is a Ph.D.
In addition, Lehigh's College of Business and Economics continued to be ranked 87th in the nation.
Bonnie Devlin, vice president of advancement, notes that Lehigh’s 7th overall position for alumni giving is a testament to the bond alumni have with the university. “I want to thank the thousands of Lehigh alumni who continue to demonstrate their loyalty to this wonderful university and in doing so, help keep Lehigh among the nation’s leaders in alumni satisfaction,” she says.
“We should all be proud that Lehigh continues to rank among the best and most selective universities in the nation,” Farrington adds. “But it’s important to recognize that Lehigh’s quality is best evaluated through the success of our students. Regular dialogue with our students, graduates, high school guidance counselors, employers and others consistently confirms for us that Lehigh is widely known as one of America's most selective and highly regarded private research universities.