West Virginia University remained among the top 100 national public universities in the latest overall rankings released Tuesday (Sept. 10) by U.S. News and World Report.

“Being among the top ‘Best National Universities’ tier is where we want to be,” said WVU President Jim Clements. “It indicates we’re on a good path, and have a solid reputation nationally as a quality institution.”

WVU was listed 94th among public universities in U.S. News’ list. Overall, the University was 170th among 281 “national universities,” which includes private schools, although only 206 are ranked, with the remaining done alphabetically.

Also, in an article on “hot college majors,” the magazine ranked biometrics second on the list and singled out WVU’s program as a pioneer in the field, quoting Bojan Cukic, professor of computer science and electrical engineering in the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

“National Universities offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and Ph.D. programs, and emphasize faculty research. National Liberal Arts Colleges focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education. They award at least 50 percent of their degrees in the arts and sciences,” the magazine said in describing its classifications.

U.S. News said it had made what it described as significant changes in its methodology this year “to reduce the weight of input factors and increase the weight of output measures.” The magazine said those changes are the main reason for shifts in rankings this year. The data for this year’s ranking was gathered in the spring and summer of 2013.

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jb/09/10/13

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