The ranks for the top five programs remain unchanged from 2018 (No. 1 Columbia; No. 2 UCLA and University of Southern California - tie; No. 4 Penn State University; and No. 5 Purdue). The only difference for 2019 is that University of Michigan, which had been tied with Purdue a year ago, dropped to No. 6.

“Given the College’s focus on continuous improvement and excellence, it is not at all surprising the gap between Penn State and Purdue closed considerably,” according to David Robledo, director of Data Analytics and Information for CoE. The respective scores went from 95 and 91 last year, to 94 and 93 this year.

The rankings are based on factors such as academic reputation among peer institutions, faculty credentials, student engagement, educational technologies and student excellence.

“Of the nearly 50 individual factors that go into this ranking, none holds a higher weighting than the assessment provided by high-ranking academic officials at our peer institutions,” said Rita Burrell, executive director of Engineering Professional Education.

Weighted at 25 percent of the overall score, this aspect accounts for ‘intangible factors affecting program quality that statistics do not capture,’ according to USNWR.

“Our Purdue program is tied for the best in the nation among this critically insightful measure,” Burrell said. “Another important factor is the high regard in which employers hold our degrees. Purdue Online in the College of Engineering has been consistently ranked the top five.”