Several of the best graduate programs in the nation are at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, according to U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 Best Graduate Schools rankings, released on March 30.
The 2022 edition evaluates graduate schools on a variety of factors, including research activity, expert assessment scores, acceptance rates, placement success, standardized test scores and grade-point averages of incoming students.
Jump to program rankings:
John A. Burns School of Medicine | School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene | William S. Richardson School of Law | Shidler College of Business | College of Education | College of Engineering | Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health | College of Social Sciences | College of Natural Sciences | College of Arts, Languages & Letters
“Rankings across specific disciplines can play a major role in a student’s decision to attend a particular university. The U.S. News and World Report’s rankings reflect UH Mānoa’s excellence across many of our graduate programs, further evidence of our status as one of the world’s great research universities, providing a wide range of opportunities for our students,” UH Mānoa Provost Michael Bruno said.
John A. Burns School of Medicine
The state’s premier medical school, John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) ranked No. 24 in primary care and No. 64 in research out of 123 of the best medical schools in the U.S. This is the second time in five years that JABSOM made the top 25 (No. 19 in the U.S. in primary care in 2016). JABSOM also placed No. 35 for diversity and No. 31 for percentage of 2012–14 graduates practicing in primary care specialties. Read more on JABSOM‘s website.
School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene
UH Mānoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene‘s doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program was ranked No. 68 among 163 schools considered in the U.S. News and World Report‘s Best Nursing Schools. UH Mānoa Nursing is the only Hawaiʻi DNP program ranked by U.S. News and World Report since 2018.
UH Mānoa Nursing also placed No. 69 out of 220 schools for best master’s nursing programs, consistently ranking in the top 30% nationally since 2018.
William S. Richardson School of Law
The William S. Richardson School of Law, ranked No. 98 among 193 American Bar Association-accredited law schools. The school’s environmental law program ranked No. 24 out of 181 programs and the evening part-time law program ranked No. 28 out of 70. Read more on the law school’s website.
Shidler College of Business
The Shidler College of Business’s part-time master of business administration program (global MBA, 36-month plan) ranked No. 152 among 273 part-time MBA programs that qualified for the ranking. Shidler’s part-time MBA program is the only Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International accredited MBA program in Hawaiʻi and one of the few MBA programs in the U.S. with a true Asia-Pacific focus.
College of Education
The College of Education (COE) ranked No. 80 of 277 schools considered, the 16th straight year the college has been listed as one of the nation’s top 100 education programs. The college also remains at the top for funded research, securing $19 million in contracts and grants in 2020. Nationally accredited since 2000, the COE continues to be recognized for its award-winning programs and people.
In 2021, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, faculty, staff, students and alumni won national awards for art education, academic advising and world language teaching; secured funding for computer science and math education as well as the history of education in Hawaiʻi; and were selected for teacher fellowships and promoted to rector of a university.
College of Engineering
Four College of Engineering graduate programs were ranked among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report. Civil engineering ranked No. 84; computer engineering, a joint program in the College of Engineering and Department of Information and Computer Sciences ranked No. 105; electrical engineering placed No. 107; and mechanical engineering is No. 139. The College of Engineering ranked in the No. 154–202 tier among top engineering schools in the U.S. that grant doctoral degrees. Read more on the College of Engineering’s website.
Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health
The Office of Public Health Studies (OPHS) in the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health placed No. 123 out of 188 U.S. doctoral programs ranked. The two programs are a PhD in public health, which specializes in community-based and translational research, and a PhD in epidemiology, which has been in high demand in COVID-19. OPHS is also home to growing undergraduate and masters programs, and is developing an online master of public health program to meet workforce demands.
College of Social Sciences
The Public Administration Program in the College of Social Sciences ranked No. 95 out of 285 graduate programs considered. The master’s of public administration program is the state of Hawaiʻi’s only Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration accredited program, offering an 18-month accelerated, two-year full-time and three-year part-time plan.
In addition, for doctoral programs in the U.S.,the Department of Economics ranked No. 95 in the nation, the Department of Sociology placed No. 97 and the Department of Political Science is No. 103.
College of Natural Sciences
The Library and Information Science Program in the College of Natural Sciences’ Information and Computer Sciences Department ranked No. 31 in the nation out of 55 graduate programs considered by U.S. News and World Report. The Library and Information Science Program leads the nation in producing Native Hawaiian librarians.
College of Arts, Languages & Letters
The Department of English in the College of Arts, Languages & Letters placed No. 89 out of 157 doctoral programs in the nation. The Department of History also ranked No. 92 out of 146 doctoral programs considered.
Other rankings
UH Mānoa has also received these notable rankings:
- UH Mānoa among world’s best in multiple subject areas by 2021 Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings by subject, March 3, 2021
- Elite international rankings in 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject, October 27, 2020
- High national ranking in U.S. News and World Report’s 2021 Best Colleges rankings, September 14, 2020
- UH Mānoa in top 1% of worldwide universities by the 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, September 2, 2020
For a full list of rankings, visit the Mānoa Institutional Research Office website.
These rankings are examples of UH Mānoa’s goal of Enhancing Student Success (PDF) and Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise (PDF), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Strategic Plan (PDF), updated in December 2020.
—By Marc Arakaki