The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is touting high marks in the 2013 U.S. News and World Report college rankings.
The academy, located in Kings Point, was named the third best regional college in the North – a category that includes schools that focus on technical rather than liberal arts degrees.
The academy’s undergraduate engineering program was also ranked 22 in the country among schools where a doctorate is not offered – an increase over last year, according to an academy press release.
“Our vision for the Academy is to be the world leader in maritime education,” said Rear Admiral James A. Helis, superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, in the release. “We are very proud of this year’s rankings as well as our continuing recruitment effort to increase the number of women and minority candidates eligible to enter the regiment and maritime industry.”
The academy was beaten out by Cooper Union and the United States Coast Guard Academy in the regional college rankings, but topped a number of other maritime schools, including the Maine and Massachusetts Maritime Academies.
Among public regional schools in the North the academy came in second to the Coast Guard Academy.
“These results are indicative of the outstanding quality, hard work and dedication of our faculty and staff,” said academic dean of the academy Shashi Kumar in the release. ”With this year’s introduction of our new cutting edge curriculum, we hope to continue our role as the world leader in maritime education.”
The academy, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation, trains midshipmen who either commit to five years in active duty military service or work in the maritime field with eight years of reserve service.
U.S. News and World Report ranks colleges based on both self-reported quantitative measures, like SAT scores and graduation rates, as well as peer assessment surveys filled out by college officials.
The engineering programs were ranked based on a survey of engineering school deans and senior faculty, according to the U.S. News and World Report Web site.
