Release Date: Friday, August 22, 2003

UGA AGAIN NAMED A TOP 20 PUBLIC UNIVERSITY BY U.S. NEWS and WORLD REPORT

ATHENS, Ga. — For the fourth consecutive year, the University of Georgia has been recognized as one of America's top 20 public universities by U.S. News and World Report. Some of the rankings will be available online at www.usnews.com on Friday, August 22, 2003; the magazine's 2004 "Best Colleges" issue will be available at newsstands on Monday, August 25, 2003.

UGA is tied for 20th with Purdue University, and is tied with Purdue for 58th in a ranking of all universities, public and private. In 1998, the university was 83rd on the overall list of colleges and universities. UGA was ranked 18th in the 2003 and 2002 ranking of public universities, and 20th in the 2001 rankings.

"It is a reflection of the quality of our students, faculty and staff that the University of Georgia is consistently ranked among America's best public universities," said President Michael F. Adams. "Despite some current resource challenges, our students, faculty and staff continue to perform very well."

UGA is one of only six Southeastern schools in the top 20, and is ranked ahead of such institutions as Ohio State, Rutgers and Indiana University. The magazine analyzes a total of 248 universities nationwide offering a wide range of undergraduate majors as well as master's and doctoral programs.

Business and engineering schools were also ranked, and UGA's Terry College of Business is ranked 27th in the "Best Business Programs" list. The Terry College has been ranked among the nation's top 30 undergraduate business programs by U.S. News for the past five consecutive years, and is consistently ranked among the top 20 public business schools.

"The Terry College is firmly established as one of the very best public business schools in the country," said Dean P. George Benson. "Not only is our reputation growing, but the competition to be admitted has intensified dramatically. Terry offers a great undergraduate experience."

U.S. News considers several factors in producing the annual ranking. Among those are academic reputation, student retention, graduation rates, class sizes, faculty resources, student quality and alumni giving rate.

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