The College of Engineering is regularly listed among the top engineering programs in the United States and worldwide. While rankings are only one measure of the excellence of our programs, the College's consistent recognition as a leading institution both overall and in a number of specific disciplines confirms our reputation as a leader in engineering education.
U.S News & World Report
Undergraduate
The undergraduate engineering program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ranked 6th in the 2012 America's Best Colleges edition of U.S. News and World Report (published in September 2011). Ranked undergraduate engineering science specialties in the College of Engineering* include the following:
- 7 - Aerospace
- 2 - Agricultural
- 10 - Chemical
- 2 - Civil
- 5 - Computer Engineering
- 5 - Electrical/Electronic/Communications
- 2 - Engineering Physics
- 4 - Environmental/Environmental Health
- 13 - Industrial/Manufacturing
- 3 - Materials
- 6 - Mechanical
*U.S. News and World Report does not include General Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, or Computer Science among its undergraduate engineering program rankings. Biomedical rankings only include the top 20 schools. The Bioengineering degree was introduced in 2004; its first bachelor's degrees were awarded in 2008.
Graduate
The graduate engineering program at Illinois ranked 5th in the Best Graduate Schools issue of U.S. News and World Report (published in March 2012). Ranked graduate engineering science specialties in the College of Engineering include the following:
- 7 - Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical
- 2 - Biological/Agricultural
- 12 - Chemical
- 1 - Civil
- 5 - Computer Engineering
- 5 - Computer Science*
- 8 - Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence*
- 9 - Computer Science - Programming Language*
- 6 - Computer Science - Systems*
- 11 - Computer Science - Theory*
- 3 - Electrical/Electronic/Communications
- 3 - Environmental
- 16 - Industrial/Manufacturing
- 4 - Materials
- 7 - Mechanical
- 10 - Nuclear
- 9 - Physics*
- 2 - Physics - Condensed Matter*
- 10 - Physics - Nuclear*
- 8 - Physics - Quantum*
*ranked in 2010
Other Selected Rankings
-
The University of Illinois is ranked No. 5 on SmartMoney's unique "payback" survey of 50 top-priced schools that shows which alumni are reaping rewards in the job market.
-
Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine lists the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at No. 27 on its list of "100 Best Values in Public Colleges" for 2012.
-
In fall 2010, a Wall Street Journal study of the largest public and private companies, nonprofits and government agencies ranked the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign #3 for graduates best prepared and most able to succeed; Engineering ranked #4, Computer Science #9.
-
Engineering at Illinois is #1 on " The Most-Cited Institutions in Engineering, 1999-2009," a list of the top 20 institutions worldwide with the highest total citations to research papers published in Thomson Reuters-indexed engineering journals from January 1, 1999 to October 31, 2009.
-
In 2009, Engineering at Illinois was ranked #3 in the "Top 100 World Universities in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences" by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).
-
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ranked first among Big Ten schools on Smart Money magazine’s list for how quickly graduates earn back the cost of their tuition (January 2009).
-
Illinois was ranked #1 by PC Magazine and The Princeton Review in its "America's Top Wired Colleges," 2008 Edition.
-
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was ranked 16th among undergraduate programs and 21st among graduate programs in the fifth annual ranking of the nation’s top entrepreneurship educational programs by Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review (October 2007).
-
In May 2007, Small Times magazine ranked Illinois fourth worldwide for research and education in nanotechnology, the science of creating materials and tools at the atomic and molecular levels.
