A measure of excellence

Dear campus community,

Today, the University of Maryland was once again recognized as one of the nation’s leading institutions of higher education by U.S. News & World Report, holding our place as a top 20 public university in the country. We now have a combined 73 Top 25 ranked undergraduate and graduate programs in 2022-23, which is up from 67 the previous year.

As we recognize our advancement, we underscore a statement from the Fearlessly Forward strategic plan: progress will not be measured in individual achievement, but in our collective accomplishments. Our No. 19 ranking is a credit to the collective work of our students, faculty and staff who demonstrate excellence in their teaching, scholarship, research and work.

Rankings are but one piece of a much larger puzzle that helps measure our success as a university, offering insights on how we track our progress and make data-driven decisions. We are proud of our community’s work to achieve excellence in all we do, and it is encouraging to see that directly reflected in our rankings.

Tracking progress
Seven months after the release of our Fearlessly Forward strategic plan, we are already seeing significant progress on our four strategic commitments—from launching new grant programs to spur innovation in the classroom to funding faculty projects that take on humanity’s grand challenges. Collaboratively, we have developed a thoughtful roadmap for the work ahead.

One notable reflection of our advancement in this year’s U.S. News & World Report rankings is our faculty compensation rank, which rose 15 spots to No. 28 among public universities in the nation. This is a direct reflection of our commitment to invest in people and communities and our ongoing advocacy at the state level for increased compensation for our employees. We thank Governor Larry Hogan, Speaker Adrienne Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson, and the state legislature for working with us on higher education investment.

Our commitment to reimagine learning is also reflected in our recognition for excellent learning communities and top 10 rank among public universities for best undergraduate teaching.

Excellence in academia and the student experience
Over the past year, Maryland has received notable recognition for our academic programs, research enterprise and student experience. These include:

• No. 1 in criminology and No. 1. in counseling and personnel services in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 Best Graduate Schools
• No. 4 among public universities for undergraduate entrepreneurship education by The Princeton Review
• No. 8 for Black or African American undergraduates who later achieve doctoral degrees, according to the National Science Foundation
• No. 10 among public institutions for research and development spending in the National Science Foundation's Higher Education Research and Development Survey
• No. 10 among U.S. public institutions for patents awarded in 2021 along with other USM institutions, according to the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association
• No. 14 among publics in Forbes’ list of America’s Top Colleges, which spotlights schools that offer an excellent education at a great price, graduate high-earners and propel students to become successful entrepreneurs and influential leaders in their fields

In this year’s U.S. News & World Report undergraduate rankings among public universities, we also received 19 top 25 academic program rankings across engineering, business and computer science.

We are also extremely proud to be recognized as one of the nation’s leading public universities for veterans (No. 19) and continue to be touted for our value and innovation.

In addition to steadfastly committing to be a diverse and multicultural campus, a signature stated priority for the university is excellence in all we do. These outstanding rankings and recognitions punctuate a statement that we make every day—that the University of Maryland is one of the greatest universities in the world!

Sincerely,