Augusta University ranked among top schools in nation

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Several of Augusta University’s graduate and professional programs are among the top in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 Best Graduate Schools rankings released Wednesday.

The report shows the College of Nursing, with the state’s flagship programs, ranks in the top 10 for its Clinical Nurse Leader program and remains in the top 50 among the report’s Best Online Graduate Nursing Programs for the second year in a row.   Additionally, the college’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program, Nursing Anesthesia program and Master of Science in Nursing program were also ranked among the top 100 in the nation.

“These rankings reflect a growing awareness of Augusta University and the College of Nursing’s excellence in advanced nursing education,” said Dr. Lucy N. Marion, dean of the College of Nursing. “We continue to invest in a new generation of faculty, partnerships, technologies, joint degree programs, and of course, new cohorts of bright and motivated students.”

The Medical College of Georgia, the state’s public medical school, continued a steady climb in the best medical schools for research, ranking 73^rd  this year – 76^th last year – in the U.S. News and World Report comparison of 116 medical schools in the nation who responded to the survey.

Despite National Institutes of Health research funding rates that are flat or declining at many medical schools, MCG faculty funding and comparative rankings continue a steady upward trajectory, said Dr. Peter F. Buckley, MCG dean. As an example, MCG funding from this gold standard for biomedical research in the U.S. was up 16.3 percent from the previous year to $50.8 million. MCG has a total of $99 million in grants and contracts. University wide, research grants and contracts topped $109 million in fiscal year 2015, their highest level in more than five years.

A recent report by the Association of American Medical Colleges ranked MCG scientists 20^th in research productivity among 58 of the nation’s public medical schools responding to a survey. And, the medical school was listed 70^th in the new Blue Ridge Rankings of the NIH funding among 138 of the nation’s medical schools included in the NIH’s databases.

“The research faculty of the Medical College of Georgia are clearly among the most productive scientists in this nation,” said Buckley. “They are relentlessly focused on better understanding how our bodies and brains function, as well as dissecting diseases that impact most of us, including cardiovascular and neurological disease and cancers.”

Each year, U.S. News releases ranking information on academic programs in business, law, education, engineering, medicine and nursing. The report scores each of these curriculums based on a number of factors, including employment rates for graduates, starting salary, and standardized test scores of newly enrolled students.