NIU has been ranked in the top 4 percent of all American universities by the Carnegie Foundation, having received the agency’s highest possible designation – “Doctoral/Research University Extensive.”
The American Chemical Society (ACS) has ranked the NIU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry among the top 25 in the nation for the number of ACS-certified bachelor’s degrees awarded annually.
The department also is well known for producing highly sought-after chemistry and science teachers.
U.S. News ranks the NIU Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) program as fourth best nationally in the field of city management and eighth for public finance.
The NIU MPA program has been a major force behind efforts to professionalize municipal staffs in Illinois and advance the national good government movement. About one-third of Illinois city managers are graduates of the program.
NIU’s Department of Accountancy has been ranked in the nation’s top 10 by the Public Accounting Report for the last four years, while its graduate program has become a fixture in that ranking’s top 20.
Last year, U.S. News and World Report placed NIU Accountancy among the top 25 accounting programs in the country.
NIU’s marketing program is ranked among the top 5 percent in the nation by Chicago-based Professional Society for Sales and Marketing Training.
NIU’s Professional Selling program was the first collegiate sales program in the nation certified by SMT.
The NIU College of Business was ranked 65th in BusinessWeek’s 2007 ranking of best undergraduate business programs in the country. The college received especially high marks for the quality of its faculty, its job placement services and for its facilities. According to the survey, “With dedicated professors and extraordinary facilities, students say NIU provides a private school education on a state school budget.”
In 2006, Crain’s Chicago Business asked local MBA graduates to rate their schools. Nobody was more pleased than NIU alumni, who reported the highest overall satisfaction and gave the highest marks to the teachers in their program. With endorsements like that, Crain’s placed the NIU MBA program among the top seven in Chicago.
Black Issues in Higher Education magazine consistently ranks NIU in the top 100 institutions nationwide graduating minority students, including No. 1 in the country for number of graduate degrees in education awarded to African-Americans.
NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology ranked in the top 40 among engineering master’s degree programs nationwide this year, according to U.S. News and World Report.
All December 2005 NIU School of Nursing graduates passed the state board exams with scores in the 100th percentile on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Licensure Examination. Comparatively, the pass rate is 86 percent for all nursing programs in Illinois and for all U.S. programs.
