The School of Public Policy is climbing in national rankings | Inside UCR

The University of California, Riverside’s School of Public Policy is less than a decade old, but its graduate school is already rapidly rising in national rankings compiled by U.S. News and World Report.

This year, the school was ranked 76th in the nation, an improvement from 102nd in 2022. Only one other public policy school – the one at the University of Tennessee – has improved in the rankings as much as UCR has in the past two years.

Mark Long, dean of the Riverside School, attributed this rapid growth to “our concerted efforts to communicate to our peer public policy schools across the country the exceptional quality of our faculty and the strength of our undergraduate and graduate programs.”

The school is only a year away from celebrating its 10th anniversary. The first 27 students in the flagship graduate program arrived on campus in 2015. Just three years later, the school acquired an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree program in public policy that now enrolls nearly 300 students.

“Our graduates are now maturing and serving in important positions across the state and country,” Long said. “Our school is growing rapidly and has one of the largest public policy undergraduate programs in the country.”

The school also offers students a fast track to a master’s degree. Last year, the Bachelor’s/Master’s degree program in Public Policy was launched. This program allows students to complete their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years. It’s “a very attractive option for many,” Long said

UCR public policy majors are qualified for a range of employment opportunities. In addition to working in politics and in local, regional, state and federal governments, the school’s graduates are also needed in a variety of government relations positions throughout the private sector.

“We couldn’t be more proud of our faculty, staff, students and alumni,” Long said.