Three Cal State Fullerton online graduate programs — education, business and engineering — are in the top 25 schools ranked nationwide by U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best Online Programs list released Jan. 26. Four CSUF programs also ranked in the top three statewide.
The College of Education’s fully online master’s program continued its steady upward climb to No. 4 of 317 schools, a significant jump from No. 20 in 2020 and 38th on the list in 2019. The programs for educators are No. 1 in California. The curriculum and instruction program is ranked at No. 26 in the nation and No. 2 in the state, behind San Diego State University at No. 15.
The university’s online master’s in business, offered through the College of Business and Economics is No. 17 of 184 in the nation and No. 2 in California behind USC. The category does not include the MBA. Online business programs at 184 schools were reviewed in five categories: engagement, expert opinion, faculty credentials and training, student excellence and student services and technologies.
The College of Engineering and Computer Science’s fully online graduate programs also continued to climb in the rankings to No. 25 of 105, up from 29th in the nation in 2020. CSUF’s engineering programs rank third in California, behind UCLA and USC.
U.S. News evaluated more than 1,200 online degree programs in academic quality, across multiple disciplines to craft the 2021 Best Online Programs list.
In September, U.S. News ranked Cal State Fullerton fourth in Top Public Schools in the Western region, third in Best Undergraduate Teaching and fifth in Most Innovative Schools. CSUF also ranked 16th in Regional Universities — West, and ninth in Top Performers on Social Mobility, a ranking computed after U.S. News assessed 1,452 institutions on 17 measures of academic quality, including average graduation rate, average first-year retention rate, average federal loan debt of graduates, and Pell Grant graduation rate.
For more about CSUF’s 2021 Best Online Programs rankings, visit here, and for more about the 2021 list, visit the U.S. News & World Report website.