HOUSTON – August 31, 2007 - U.S. News & World Report has ranked Houston Baptist University in the top tier for the fourth consecutive year. HBU received a ranking of 48 among the 123 schools in the “Best Universities” offering master’s degrees in the West region. This division includes colleges and universities that grant both undergraduate and master’s degrees.

HBU’s smaller class size (fewer than 20 students in 61% of its classes and only one percent of classes with more than 30 students) strongly contributed to its ranking. Another key factor was the high school ranking of incoming freshman; 36% of HBU’s 2006 freshman class were ranked in the top quarter of their high school graduating class.

Colleges and universities are listed and ranked by region based on a variety of objective criteria, including peer assessment, class size, freshman retention, graduation rate, SAT/ACT scores, and student/faculty ratio. All data is based on the freshman class of 2005. Each indicator is assigned a weight (expressed as a percentage) based on judgments about which measures of quality matter most. Colleges are ranked based on their composite weighted score.

“Measurement is a necessary component of the evaluation process for students and parents as they make their college decision,” said HBU President Robert B. Sloan. “We feel that information on areas such as our small class size, student/faculty ratio and graduate ratio demonstrates our commitment to our students.”

“Houston Baptist University is a distinctively Christian university,” said Sloan “and although the ranking system includes criteria which corresponds to our focus as a student-center campus our core values are not measured by the U.S.News & World Report ranking system.”

Houston Baptist University is an independent Texas Baptist institution founded in 1960 with an enrollment of more than 2,300 students.

About Houston Baptist University

Houston Baptist University is an independent university located on the southwest side of Houston offering fully accredited academic programs in more than 40 undergraduate majors. The university gives the personal experience of a Christian college in one of the nation’s most dynamic and energetic cites. HBU has been ranked in the top tier among the “Best Universities."