University of Houston-Victoria’s online undergraduate programs as a whole recently drew national recognition from U.S. News & World Report for the first time.

UHV was rated No. 131 in the publication’s 2014 rankings of Best Online Bachelor’s Programs. The university’s ranking was the second highest in the state out of nine Texas universities that made the list.

Phil Castille

UHV’s online undergraduate degrees were among the nearly 1,000 programs surveyed by U.S. News. The publication only considered regionally accredited schools where some of the programs are completely online. UHV offers programs face to face, online or a hybrid of the two.

“We are tremendously excited to be ranked by one of the most widely read national publications for prospective college students,” UHV President Phil Castille said. “UHV’s ranking is very impressive and reflects our years of experience with online education. Unlike many universities, we’ve been doing 21st century higher education here for a long time.”

The criteria used to configure rankings included weighted scores in the categories of student engagement, faculty credentials and training, student services and technology, peer reputation and admission selectivity. UHV scored particularly well in student services and technology, and faculty credentials and training. Student services and technology measures the amount of financial, technical and vocational support available to online students. Faculty credentials and training measures how well a school prepares its instructors to teach remotely.

Jeffrey Cass

“In addition to being great teachers, our faculty members have demonstrated a readiness to adapt to new and different modes of teaching,” said Jeffrey Cass, UHV provost and vice president for academic affairs. “We take great pride in offering our students high-quality learning experiences whether they come to us or we come to them.”

UHV offered its first online course in 1997. Four years later, the UHV School of Business Administration began offering a Master of Business Administration entirely online.

Today, UHV students can complete online degrees in many programs or concentrations. The UHV School of Arts & Sciences offers 11 programs online, such as bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice or psychology and master’s degrees in publishing or computer information systems.

The UHV School of Education & Human Development offers many of its master’s and certification programs online, including a Master of Education in adult and higher education, and the VOICE program, which allows students with a bachelor’s degree to become certified teachers after an accelerated, one-year, post-baccalaureate program.

All of the business school’s graduate degrees can be completed online, including the Strategic and Global MBAs. UHV’s MBA program was ranked No. 161 by U.S. News among online graduate business programs rankings. Similar to the university as a whole, the business school scored well on student services and technology, and faculty credentials and training.

Farhang Niroomand

“We put a lot of time and energy into providing first-rate technology and support, so our online students can have a rigorous, pleasant and convenient class experience,” said Farhang Niroomand, dean of the UHV School of Business Administration. “That’s part of why we’ve been successful in furthering the careers of our graduates.”

The UHV School of Nursing was ranked No. 295 for its Master of Science in Nursing program. Rankings of graduate health fields, such as nursing, were based on earlier surveys and were republished in the 2014 report.

While U.S. News has ranked colleges for a long time, this is only the third time the publication has put together rankings for online programs.

“It’s another indication of how widely online education has been accepted by the public and what a national competitor UHV is,” Castille said.

To find out more about UHV’s online programs, visit www.uhv.edu or contact the Office of Admissions at 361-570-4110 or admissions@uhv.edu. To view UHV’s U.S. News & World Report page, visit www.usnews.com.