University of Hawaiʻi campuses recognized in 2026 college rankings

The University of Hawaiʻi’s three four-year universities earned national recognition in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best Colleges rankings released on Tuesday.

UH Hilo, UH Mānoa and UH West Oʻahu were ranked among the top 1,700 4-year institutions approximately 2,630 4-year institutions nationwide. The rankings were based on up to 17 measures of academic quality, including graduation and retention rates, peer assessments, financial resources, and student excellence.

“These rankings reflect the hard work and dedication of our faculty, staff, and students across all three UH four-year campuses,” said University of Hawaiʻi System President Wendy Hensel. “They show that we are continuing to provide Hawaiʻi students with a high-quality, affordable education while preparing them to lead in their communities and beyond.”

UH Mānoa and UH Hilo were ranked in the national universities category, which included institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master’s and doctoral programs, and emphasize faculty research or award professional practice doctorates.

UH West Oʻahu is in the regional colleges in the West category, which includes schools focused on undergraduate education and grant fewer than 50% of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines.

UH Hilo ranked No. 178 as a top U.S. public university, No. 204 for social mobility, and No. 329 overall among the top 434 national universities—a classification based on offering a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, emphasizing research.

UH Hilo’s School of Nursing ranked No. 186 of 686 undergraduate nursing programs, the College of Business and Economics placed No. 254 among the 533 best undergraduate business programs, and the Department of Psychology ranked No. 297 out of the best 682 undergraduate psychology programs.

UH Mānoa ranked No. 92 as a top U.S. public university, No. 122 among best colleges for veterans, No. 169 overall in the country, and No. 189 in social mobility, which measures how well schools graduate students who were federal Pell Grant recipients.

The programs that were also ranked include:

• Shidler College of Business ranked No. 109 among the best undergraduate business programs out of 533 ranked programs;
• School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene  ranked No. 118 in best undergraduate nursing programs among 686 ranked programs;
• Department of Economics  in the College of Social Sciences ranked No. 139 for best undergraduate economics programs in the nation;
• College of Engineering ranked No. 150 among the best undergraduate engineering programs that offer doctoral degrees in the country;
• Department of Information and Computer Sciences in the College of Natural Sciences  ranked No. 177 among best undergraduate computer science programs out of 601 ranked programs;
• Department of Psychology in the College of Social Sciences ranked No. 196 out of the top 682 best undergraduate psychology programs in the nation.

UH West Oʻahu ranked No. 3 for best public colleges in the West, No. 3 for best colleges for veterans among regional colleges in the West, No. 8 overall among regional colleges in the West, which is two spots higher than last year and five spots higher than the year prior, and No. 8 for social mobility for regional colleges in the West.