The University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management has received top rankings in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best Business Schools.

Eller’s management and information systems MBA program ranks No. 1 among public universities and No. 3 among all universities, behind only Carnegie Mellon University at No. 2 and Massachusetts Institute of Technology at No. 1. The undergraduate program for MIS also makes the top 10 list, coming in at No. 4 in the nation.

Paulo Goes is the dean of the Eller College of Management and the Halle Chair in Leadership. He emphasized the importance of these rankings for the MIS program and the college as a whole.

“The rankings, they signify a quality environment,” Goes said in a phone interview. “In particular, the top rankings that we get in the MIS program … that’s a big big thing. That really puts us at the top of business schools that have outstanding technology oriented programs.”

This is the third year in a row that the Eller’s MBA in MIS program ranked No. 3 in the nation. According to the website for Eller’s MBA program, “Management information systems (MIS) is the design and management of information technology (IT) for an organization. It focuses on the best way to enable the organization to meet its goals and business challenges.” 

When asked about how Eller will continue to improve and climb the rankings to No. 1, Goes said, “We have to continue to invest and continue to promote what we do in the MIS program, but we are very happy being No. 3 … because if you look at who is ahead of us, No. 1 and No. 2, it is MIT and Carnegie Mellon. These are very strong powerful private schools … So just being in that company, among the three best schools across the country, I think it’s outstanding.”

The methodology of the rankings takes into account a variety of factors, some of which include graduates’ mean starting salaries, the employment rate of graduates, students’ average Graduate Management Admission Test and Graduate Record Examinations scores and ratings from corporate recruiters.

Eller’s MIS department has five association for information systems fellows and two regents professors among its faculty.

Hsinchun Chen is a Regents professor of MIS, Thomas R. Brown Chair in Management and Technology, and Director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

“It is correct and consistent with our performances in all areas,” Chen said of the rankings in an email to the Daily Wildcat. “It helps Eller to become one of the most prestigious public business schools in [the] USA. It also helps attract quality students and recruiters to Eller.”

When asked about what makes Eller’s MIS program unique, Chen responded, “Our high-quality, high-productivity faculty, with our national reputation in high-impact design science, artificial intelligence, and data analytics research. Our department has obtained more than $200M in research funding, which is the highest in MIS and business school[s].”

In addition to the top MIS program rankings, the Eller College of Management MBA programs as a whole ranks No. 46 among business schools nationwide. Eller’s Online MBA program ranks No. 10.