The University of Texas at Austin places a premium on outstanding instruction and productivity. Our faculty members are the recipients of numerous distinguished awards including Nobel and Pulitzer prizes and memberships in such prestigious organizations as the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. More than 1,000 privately funded endowed faculty positions exist at the university, and each year about 100 faculty members receive teaching excellence awards.
Graduate Program Rankings
According to U.S. News & World Report's latest edition of "Best Graduate Schools," 48 of the university’s graduate programs are among the nation’s top 10—the third most of any public university in the nation.
The university has top 10 programs in 13 of its colleges and schools including business, communication, geosciences, education, engineering, information, fine arts, natural sciences, pharmacy, public affairs, social work and liberal arts. Five of its graduate and professional schools rank in the top 10: the LBJ School of Public Affairs (No. 8), the Steve Hicks School of Social Work (No. 8), the Cockrell School of Engineering (No. 10), Jackson School of Geosciences (No. 7, ranked under Earth sciences) and the School of Information (No. 5, ranked under library and information sciences).
The five specialties ranked No. 1 in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report, are: accounting in the McCombs School of Business, petroleum engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering, geology in the Jackson School of Geosciences, and Latin American history and sociology of population, both in the College of Liberal Arts.
U.S. News & World Report’s graduate rankings, separate from the magazine's yearly ranking of undergraduate programs, are among the most widely regarded ratings in higher education. They are based on surveys of academic leaders and, for select programs, additional quantitative measures including placement test scores, student/faculty ratios, research expenditures and job placement success.
The U.S. News & World Report rankings are consistent with other recent accolades for UT Austin, which has ranked No. 18 on Forbes’ list of top 25 public college educations for $30,000 or less and No. 28 on Money magazine’s list of best colleges for the cost. Also, the 2020-2021 Center for World University Rankings are making headlines. UT Austin ranks No. 33 in the world, No. 21 in the U.S. and No. 7 among U.S. public universities in the new rankings, which are based on seven factors: education quality, alumni employment rates, faculty quality, research output, publishing, influence and citations.