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Carnegie Elevates Valpo to National Doctoral/ Professional University

Valparaiso University is now recognized as a national Doctoral/Professional University, a new classification created by Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, which U.S. News & World Report uses in its annual higher education rankings. In its first time included on the list, Valpo was ranked No. 153 out of 381 in the category, which includes all of the nation’s most elite public and private doctoral granting institutions.

This new classification acknowledges Valpo’s continuing commitment to advanced degree program offerings and puts the University in the same U.S. News & World Report category as institutions like Princeton and the University of Chicago.

The Doctoral/Professional University category, which includes Valpo, was added in February as the result of the 2018 update by Carnegie and contains 123 private schools and 28 public schools across the United States. This new Carnegie Classification, along with its two Doctoral Research University categories, is used to form the foundation for the national university ranking by U.S. News & World Report.

“For Valparaiso University, this new Carnegie Classification both recognizes Valpo’s national stature as well as its commitment to provide students with a path-seeking and career-defining education,” said Mark A. Heckler, Ph.D., president of Valparaiso University.

For many years, Valpo was included in the Master’s Colleges and Universities category by Carnegie. U.S. News and World Report ranked these institutions as Regional Universities, and recognized Valpo as one of the top five regional universities in the Midwest for 2019.

Expanding beyond the Midwest and being classified with other notable universities heightens Valpo’s national profile and promotes the compassion, dedication and accomplishments of Valpo students and servant-leaders to a much wider audience of prospective students and their families.

In addition to being listed on the National Universities ranking, Valpo’s undergraduate engineering program is ranked No. 13 nationally on the Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs list for 2020. Valpo continues to expand its undergraduate programs in engineering with new degree offerings in bioengineering, environmental engineering and integrated business and engineering.

Valpo is listed as one of the Best Undergraduate Teaching universities in the nation. This ranking focuses on institutions where administrators are committed to teaching undergraduate students in a high-quality manner, and Valparaiso University has achieved this recognition for the past seven years. With an average class size of 21 and a student-to-faculty ratio of 11:1, Valpo students learn from professors who are invested in their future and challenge them to achieve their personal best. This learning environment fosters students who are stronger collaborators and communicators who are confident participants in the world.

Other notable U.S. News rankings:

  • The AACSB-accredited College of Business is included as one of the Best Business Programs in the nation.
  • Valparaiso University is the No. 29 Best Value in the nation among all National Universities.
  • Valpo also appears on the National Universities rankings as one of the Best Colleges for Veterans and A+ Schools for B Students.