TAMIU Ranked 13th in National Top 20 for Sixth Annual Social Mobility Index
Texas A&M International University’s (TAMIU) power to move graduates from low-income backgrounds to well-paying jobs has earned it 13th place in the national Top 20 of the Sixth Annual 2019 Social Mobility Index (SMI) created by CollegeNET, a leading provider of web-based on-demand technologies for higher education.
The data-driven analysis only ranks four-year U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate a keen ability to fundamentally advance their graduates’ social mobility. The study benchmarks 1,458 schools.
Like TAMIU, most colleges and universities that dominate the rankings have sustained positive track records when it comes to social mobility for graduates. But many of those ranked are on the West or East coast. TAMIU is the only Texas institution of higher education to be ranked in the Top 20. The University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley the closest Texans institution and was ranked 34th.
TAMIU president Dr. Pablo Arenaz said the ranking underscores how the University, now celebrating its 50thAnniversary, has served as a catalyst for change.
“This really highlights the transformative impact of TAMIU. We are a true driver of change. The measurably improved lives of our graduates and, by extension, the communities they call home remain our strongest legacy. This is a tremendous source of pride for our University community of faculty, staff, students and alumni. Knowing that we out-perform so many other long-established universities in Texas is a clear sign that the best is yet to come,” Dr. Arenaz observed.
He noted that this is the second time this year that TAMIU’s social mobility impact has been nationally recognized.
“TAMIU was the highest-ranked regional university in the Texas A&M University System among Regional Universities West and was singled out as a top performer on social mobility in U.S. News and World Report’s 2020 Best Colleges edition. That ranking, ‘Top Performers on Social Mobility,’ looked at 113 schools and ranked TAMIU 14th in the nation, and the highest-ranked of 11 A&M System campuses,” Arenaz said.
SMI authors say they hope to redirect the attribution of “prestige” in higher education to colleges that truly advance economic opportunity and social mobility.
Founded on the principle that growing economic disparity is the most pressing problem today, they say the SMI seeks to redirect the attribution of "prestige" in our higher education system toward colleges that are truly advancing economic opportunity and social mobility.
“Unlike other college rankings that are aimed primarily at helping students select a college,” CollegeNET president Jim Wolfston, “the SMI helps families and policymakers determine which colleges are addressing the national problem of economic mobility. Administrators have a better chance to help strengthen US economic mobility and the promise of the American Dream if they can identify and learn from colleges that are skilled at doing this.”
For more on the ranking, visit https://www.socialmobilityindex.org
Registration for the TAMIU’s Spring semester is now underway. Classes begin Tuesday, January 21, 2020. For registration information, contact the Office of the Registrar at 956.326.2250, email registrar@tamiu.edu , click on https://www.tamiu.edu/registrar/ or visit offices in the Senator Judith Zaffirini Student Success Center.
TAMIU is celebrating its 50th Anniversary and its 25th Anniversary at its north Laredo campus throughout 2019-2020. A dedicated website shares the University’s transformation from a hybrid upper-level university to a full doctoral degree-granting University enrolling over 8,400 students and over 29,000 alumni worldwide. It includes a calendar of Anniversary events and more at tamiu.edu/50.
For more on the University’s story, contact the TAMIU Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at 956.326.2180, email prmis@tamiu.edu, click on tamiu.edu or visit offices in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 268.
University offices will close for the holidays at noon on Friday, December 20, 2019 and reopen at 8 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 3, 2020.
