Belmont University appears numerous times in the 2020 rankings of America’s Best Colleges, a new analysis released today by U.S. News & World Report. The University was praised as the best in the state and No. 17 in the country for its “unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching,” placing Belmont in heady company with the likes of Duke and Gonzaga. Belmont was also recognized for the 12th year in a row for innovation as an institution and ranked seventh nationally for Learning Communities, among other accolades.
Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “The recognitions we’ve received from U.S. News and our peers across the country prove emphatically what I’ve known to be true for a long time: Belmont faculty are leading the way in higher education by providing unparalleled expertise in the classroom and with the overall curriculum. While these rankings are certainly gratifying, I am far more excited about what they represent, that Belmont students are receiving the highest quality education that will empower them to use their skills and abilities to live lives of meaning and purpose.”
In the publication released today, Belmont is lauded for the 12th year in a row for its commitment to “making the most innovative improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology or facilities,” landing at No. 33 on the “Most Innovative Schools” in the country list.
With its focus on student success, enriched curriculum offerings and strong outcomes, Belmont earned acclaim in the following categories as well:
- Strong Commitment to Undergraduate Teaching: Ranked 17th in the nation
- The strong commitment to undergraduate teaching ranking is determined via a survey of peer institutions, who cite their fellow institutions who best reflect that quality.
- First Year Experience: Ranked 14th nationally
- Belmont was one of only 21 colleges in the country recognized for building into the curriculum programming that helps freshmen connect to their institutions.
- Learning Communities Ranked 7th of only 28 institutions recognized in the nation
- In these communities, students typically take two or more linked courses as a group and get to know one another and their professors well.
- Study Abroad: One of only 56 colleges in the country to be noted for intensive and robust study abroad programs
- Senior Capstone: One of only 34 schools recognized in the country for these culminating experiences which ask students nearing the end of their college years to create a project of some sort that integrates and synthesizes what they’ve learned.
- Service Learning: One of only 35 schools in the country recognized for service learning courses in which volunteering in the community is an instructional strategy – and a requirement of a student’s coursework.
- Best Colleges for Veterans: Belmont was one of only two schools in the state to be recognized on the national list.
- Best Value: Belmont ranked second highest in the state in its category for the quality of education versus the cost of attendance.
For the first time, Belmont was included this year in U.S. News list of National Universities rather than the Regional South category due to a recent reclassification by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Carnegie expanded its criteria for the national category to include universities who confer more than 30 professional practice doctoral degrees across two or more programs. With Belmont’s significant success in pharmacy, law, physical therapy, occupational therapy and nursing doctorate programs, the University was promoted to the larger and more competitive national category, landing in its debut year in the top 100 private institutions in the country and No. 166 overall. All in, U.S. News ranks and reports on more than 1,500 institutions of higher education across the United States in a number of national and regional categories.
