The School of Business moved up 30 positions in its rankings with “U.S. News and World Report,” making it in the top 15 percent of business programs in the country.

“Bloomberg Businessweek” has also recently ranked IU Southeast’s School of Business 73rd out of 500 for part-time MBA programs.

“These rankings show that IU Southeast’s business programs compare very favorably with other programs in the nation,” Alan White, dean of the School of Business and assistant professor of finance, said.

This is the highest ranking the School of Business has received from “U.S. News and World Report,” but it is not the highest it has received in “Bloomberg Businessweek.”

“The rankings are pretty volatile,” White said, “and small changes in both our survey results and the results of the comparable schools can result in large swings in the rankings.”

The School of Business has ranked as high as ninth overall in the nation in 2009 and second for post-MBA outcomes.

“In 2007, we were 18th in the nation, so it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster ride,” White said.

The rankings are determined depending on which organization is conducting the survey.

“For ‘Businessweek,’ a survey of our recently graduated students, as well as a detailed look at our admissions criteria, graduation rates and full-time faculty, are used to determine the rankings,” White said.

The method “Bloomberg Businessweek” uses to determine the rankings will be changed in 2013, which is when the School of Business will be ranked again by the firm.

“Given the quality of our programs, I expect that we’ll be back in the top 25 nationwide for that ranking the next time around,” White said.

On the other hand, “U.S. News and World Report” conducts a survey with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, internationally accredited business school deans and graduate directors.

“This helps us in many areas including the recruitment of top students and faculty and also helps us in fundraising efforts,” White said.
White said the School of Business takes pride in how well its students are performing.

“While national rankings and ratings are gratifying, we are more pleased with the results of our students in academic performance,” White said.

Undergraduate seniors in the School of Business continued their good performance on the ETS Major Field Tests in Business. The undergraduate students have also achieved the top 15 percent or better nationwide in 20 of the previous 22 assessments.

“Our graduates have the highest overall pass rates on the CPA exam of any public school in the state of Indiana and any school in the state of Kentucky,” White said.

Additionally, two of the last three Investment Challenge Competitions have been won by IU Southeast student teams.

“This and other great student outcomes show that we are providing a quality education and creating graduates capable of competing with anyone,” White said.

By JENNIFER HARRINGTON

Staff

jeharrin@umail.iu.edu